January 17
7Everyone who heard Him was amazed at his understanding and His answers. (Luke 2:47, The Jesus Bible)
Happy Martin Luther King week! For those of you that have purchased a hard copy of either the 2021 or 2022 Common Sense REBORN Devotional, you know that I put a lot of focus on the great one, the Reverend, the Doctor, the prophet of the Boomers generation: Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK was an anointed leader among men and yesterday the country celebrated his legacy. MLK’s youngest daughter, the Reverend Bernice King, gave a powerful speech in her father’s honor yesterday, where she spoke “We love to quote King in and around the holiday…But then refuse to live King 365 days of the year”. This is the same struggle we face as Christians. We celebrate Jesus on Christmas and Easter, and, hopefully, every Sunday, but we fail to live like Jesus the rest of the week and the 311 other days of the year (365-54). The City of Savannah City Manager, sent an email out to all city employees at the beginning of MLK’s weekend and he wrote:
“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1957 to an audience in Montgomery, Alabama- ‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” –Jay Medler
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He constantly taught His disciples how to serve others. One of His final acts was to wash all their feet. And Jesus’ final act of servitude was He went to the cross to die for all mankind’s sins. What this country needs, what this world needs, is a generation where those with much go out of their way to serve those with little and lead the way, setting the example for the world of how to serve. It is 2023 folks, the time is now for us to bring the world together to serve those around us. The Bible verse above is the verse a handful of volunteers are teaching the four-year-old class at my local church: “Everyone who heard Him were amazed. Luke 2:47” (with hand motions). Everyone reading this post is an adult. You have read the Bible, heard the words through various preachings. You have been amazed by the teachings of Jesus: to Love God and Love People. Perhaps you have even seen the Holy Spirit work miracles in your life. After all that I ask you: what are YOU doing for others? What are you doing to grow the Truth and spread the Gospels? What are you doing to bring healing to the sick? Hope to the hopeless? Food to the hungry? Shelter for the homeless? 2023 is a year I have dedicated to be social media free, to find financial freedom, and to double-down on my servitude for others. I pray that all of you reading this will do the same. Jesus made our part easy. He spoke final truth to the world and those words were recorded by those around Him. He performed the miracles. He defeated death and the grave. Our part is easy. All we need to do is tell the world about Jesus. To love others. To serve those in need.
Before I leave you with a great new song from ONE HOUSE WORSHIP, I will close with a final quote from MLK:
Common Sense Reborn 