Dr. Rick Mandl - July 30, 2020
Preaching To The Chickens
Preaching To The Chickens
Thursday July 30, 2020
Hey church family... Last week I spoke to you a little bit about the passing of Congressman John Lewis and the difference that one person can make, when that one person is committed to being used by God. In response to that devotional, someone very kindly gifted me with this book called “Preaching To The Chickens: The Story Of Young John Lewis.’ I want to share with you just a couple of excerpts from it.
The Dust Jacket says... (read & Excerpt)
This week I was reading a little bit more about John Lewis, and specifically about the philosophy by which he tried to live his life. It was something called “Redemptive Suffering” and it was formed during the time that he studied in seminary. Lewis explains a little bit of “Redemptive Suffering” in these words that come from his memoir. He writes, "Suffering, though, can be nothing more than a sad and sorry thing without the presence on the part of the sufferer of a graceful heart, an accepting and open heart, a heart that holds no malice toward the inflictors of his or her suffering. This is a difficult concept to understand, and it is even more difficult to internalize, but it has everything to do with the way of nonviolence. We are talking about love here. Not romantic love. Not the love of one individual for another. Not loving something that is lovely to you. This is a broader, deeper, more all-encompassing love. It is a love that accepts and embraces the hateful and the hurtful..."
And then he shares something that was said by one of those who inspired him. Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lewis said, "Dr. King would often say that we’ve got to love people no matter what. Most of all, he would say, we must love the unlovable. 'Love the hell out of them,' he would say. And he meant that literally. If there is hell in someone, if there is meanness and anger and hatred in him, we’ve got to love it out.”
Those are great words to live by, and they remind me of what our Lord Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them... Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
If all of us who carry the name Christian, loved like that this world would be a better place. I pray that would happen and that it would begin with you and me.
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