Dr. Alveda King: Remembering God's Love on Martin Luther King Day
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Every year, our country takes a day to honor the legacy and memory of my uncle, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A few days later, we March for Life, and it’s perfectly fitting that the two occasions coincide.
At a time of widespread conflict and mutual distrust, it’s more vital than ever for us to reflect on the message of faith, love, and toleration that my uncle shared with the world.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man of God who strove to live up to the teachings of Jesus Christ. He saw all of us as God’s children, living the words of the apostles: “of one blood, God created the human race” (). His faith informed his commitment to his community and was the source of his calling to the great mission of uniting men and women of different ethnic groups.
My uncle viewed love as the power that would redeem mankind. God’s creative love is the power that rules the cosmos, and His grace gives us the power to make brothers and sisters out of men and women, boys and girls.
“I have decided to stick with love,” my uncle famously said. “Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
Today, hate still retains its grip over too many human hearts — but we can change that if we follow my uncle’s example and choose agape love. Hate is truly a tremendous burden, and we as a nation need to remember that there is a better alternative.
In order to prevent hatred from corrupting our hearts, we must allow God’s love to flow through us. Only through love can we become what God intended us to be, brothers and sisters of one human family.
There is so much to love in today’s America, with President Trump providing all Americans the opportunity to live lives devoted to life, family, community, and God. The President has worked to unite us as Americans, dedicated to our country and the Gospel, by working in service to our nation as a whole.
We need to continue the hard work of bringing Americans together, which is already making our country stronger than it’s ever been. We can do that by deepening our faith and following the example of Jesus Christ, as my uncle encouraged us to do.
Through his faith, love, and service, Martin Luther King, Jr. made America a more righteous country, recommitting us to the principles of equality that guided our founding. Through both his words and his example, MLK reminded millions of people of God’s love for them and continues to do so to this day.
My uncle was just one man, but his influence endures because he was dedicated to his God and his brothers and sisters of all creeds and colors. When we reflect on how much one man, devoted to love and the teachings of Jesus Christ, was able to accomplish, we should all take heart and have faith. God has a plan for us, and through faith, we can better understand and follow that plan.
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