Something To Think About Loving our neighbor, 7/7

My buddies and I resumed our Monday morning listen to the audio version of Eric Metaxas's book, 7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness.  Jackie Robinson is the first of the seven whose life overlaps with mine.  He was the grandson of a slave, and grew up in an era of deep racial division.  In 1945 Branch Rickey, General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, invited Robinson to the the first Black player in Major League Baseball.  Jackie Robinson not only excelled athletically, but faced the insults and taunts that were heaped on him with a divinely provided self-control.  The player and manager opened the door, and in just a short time the unfair barrier that prevented Black athletes from playing at the highest level had been eliminated. My observation, and the conversation this morning, indicate that we still don't have it right. Less than twenty years after Jackie Robinson got the break he deserved, Dr. Martin Luther King said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."  We have made progress, but we have not yet arrived. The Old Testament prophets often thundered against the injustices of their world.  Their words still carry great force when laid down next to the inequities of the 21st Century.  Amos said, “. . . let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.  (Amos 5:24) Like so many today who claim to follow God, the people of Israel were busy about external acts of worship.  Commentator Donald R. Sunukjian, helps us get a handle on the prophet's words: Instead of ritual and performance, God wanted a relentless commitment to justice and righteousness. . . . He wanted a passionate concern for the rights of the poor, a concern that would roll on like an ever-flowing river … like a never-failing stream that did not run dry. God wanted a day-to-day life of surging integrity and goodness. (Bible Knowledge Commentary) Few of us are in a position, like Branch Rickey, that affords us an opportunity to, in one fell swoop, reverse decades of injustice.  Each of us, though, can make a difference. Are we? It's STTA: Find out more about CBC at our website, or in a recent newsletter. God's Story in His Own Words. a message composed of nothing but Scripture that presents the flow of Divine Revelation from "In the beginning," to the final "Amen." You can find out about a relationship with Jesus that provides the kind of internal change that makes a difference in our world here.