Amos 5
Treat People Fairly and Correctly!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, September 5.
In his famous 1963 speech, “I Have a Dream,” the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously quoted from Amos 5:23-24, “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” He connected the judgment of Israel for corrupting justice and mocking righteousness with the urgency of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, essentially saying that the only acceptable outcome of their movement was a repentant nation where people, regardless of the color of their skin, were treated fairly (justice) and correctly (righteousness). Sixty-one years later, as a man whose father turned 18 years old the year of MLK’s speech, then soon after went to fight in the Vietnam War, I ask the question: Has America repented? Are we a nation where people are treated fairly and correctly?
Seven hundred years after Amos, and two thousand years before MLK, the Apostle Paul commanded all followers of Jesus in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” By living this way, we don’t “grieve the Holy Spirit” (30). We make our redemption visible by being a people known for our justice and righteousness, and what we must realize about this, and it was something MLK understand, is that this is not a call for retribution or vengeance, but the call of Jesus to right living. Sadly, he was assassinated for calling America to repentance, but isn’t that the way God’s prophets have been treated throughout history?
Seize the moment and treat all people fairly and correctly! Be kind to others because it costs you nothing and gives them everything.
God bless you!
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