It is Martin Luther King Day. On MLK Day I try to read something from him—usually Letter from Birmingham Jail. This year, though, I ran across a quote from his Montgomery Bus Boycott speech in the book I’m currently reading for the “Heretics” group (the name has a fun story behind it), and it intrigued me enough to go read the entire speech.
In this speech, Dr. King was preparing the community for what would happen during the boycott and how people would respond to it. The quote that really caught my attention was this:
“Let us be Christian in all of our actions. But I want to tell you this evening that it is not enough for us to talk about love; love is one of the pivotal points of the Christian faith. There is another side called justice. And justice is really love in calculation. Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love.”
If justice comes out of love (and I believe it does), then love has to guide our motivations, our actions, and our tactics. When love is the foundation, you can’t fight with the weapons of the enemy—because if you do, you’ve already lost. But that doesn’t mean you don’t fight. You have to. Love will always revolt against that which is not love. It has to.