I am working my way through Martin Luther King’s The Strength to Love and my last post had a quote on be tough minded. It can’t stop there.
Dr. King wrote that the gospel also demands we have a tender heart.
“Toughmindedness without tenderheartedness is cold and detached, leaving one’s life in a perpetual winter devoid of the warmth of spring and the gentle heat of summer. What is more tragic than to see a person who has risen to the disciplined heights of toughmindedness but has at the same time sunk to the passionless depths of hardheartedness?”
This grips me in light of last week and the not just the political arena, but the Christian platforms in the political arena. David French wrote an impassioned essay about evangelicals and the “hiring of hate.” It is a good warning… for me. There is definitely an analysis of how the white evangelical movement has had politicians do their “dirty work”, so to speak, but French’s essay combined with Dr. King’s words are corrections for me as well.
We are simply not doing well in our Christian witness in the political arena. We are not doing well in issues we deeply believe in, but our drive all too often is for a “win” rather than compassion and seeing love triumph. French’s essay is well worth your time.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 