Tale of Two Preachers: James 3:13-18

13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure then  peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits,unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3: 13-18

English: Photograph of Rosa Parks
 with Dr. Martin Luther King jr.
 (ca. 1955) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today we remember the life of a remarkable man, the Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I can hardly think of an individual who did more for the Civil Rights of all people than this man.

Though many may disparage his foibles, this preacher was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. Thrown into the Montgomery bus boycott, King became president of the MIA. Subsequently, he rides the first integrated bus.

President Lyndon B. Johnson and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. meet at the White House, 1966 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From this point on, his life zeros in on the rights for racial equality. He meets presidents and world leaders, is stabbed, arrested,assaulted, elected president of many civil rights organizations. He writes and publishes and receives the Nobel Peace Prize.

He's arrested, accused of being a communist, and still he strives for equality of all races, and fights for the end of poverty.

Eventually, he is assassinated--a horrid end for a man who strove for peace and the end of inequitable laws.

And then there's Al Sharpton, a man who deserves no reverend suffix to his name. He wants fame and perpetrates false civil rights atrocities to make a name for himself. This begins with the Tawana Brawley debacle. 

He's notorious for tax evasion. With any civil rights disturbance, he pokes his nose into the situation.

His language is as strident and hate-filled as Rev. King's was eloquent and righteous.

His list of infamy goes on and on, and I do not care to elaborate on it. To my thinking, he illustrates verse 14.

These two men perfectly illustrate today's scripture. King is wise. His knowledge gentle and godly. His fame found him. He did not seek it for fame alone. He was reasonable, gentle, full of mercy and willing to pay the price for righteousness.

Sharpton? You can form your own opinion.

As the week goes one and we move into Black History month, remember the godly, the men like King, who make our world a better place.