The Content of our Character: Still the Great Challenge

Fifty years ago today, August 28^th 1963, one of the greatest speeches in all of American history was given. Thousands of people gathered on the Mall around the Washington Monument to protest racism and listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights movement was young and vibrant. But it would soon grow to be an angry young adult as the nation’s cities burned in 1968. Would Dr. King’s dream be lost?

In 1963 most Americans had heard of Dr. King and recognized his face from the news. But he was still a puzzle to many white Americans. What did Dr. King want? What did he really want? Dr. King’s heartfelt desire was revealed at the end of his speech.

The famous closing lines of the speech called “The Dream” were not originally included in the manuscript. As Dr. King spoke he departed from his written remarks and said “I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream rooted deeply in the American dream.” The heart of his dream was that “one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave holders will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood…I have a dream that my four 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. I have a dream today.”

This is a great dream! And still we are on the quest for we live in a nation where we have been told that character doesn’t matter. Our politicians lie and deceive but if their intentions are “good” their character doesn’t matter. Thousands of young people reared on this mantra are lost morally. Many civil rights leaders have traded moral consciousness for racial consciousness. They have abandoned the vision of racial equality for identity politics. And the white establishment is crippled by political correctness and fear.

Where can true equality be found? How can the content of our character become noble? The answer is in Jesus Christ. By faith in Christ all of us can become the children of God—black, white, Asian, Hispanic; it doesn’t matter (Galatians 3:26-29). And once we are the children of God we can then put on the character of Christ into our lives (Romans 13:14; Colossians 3:8-17).

 As Christians we can advance the dream. We must begin with the principle that all human beings are created in the image of God. But we must also understand that we are all sinners by nature and the problems that affect our world are all rooted in sin. Sin is in the fabric of who are and the institutions we build. But Jesus Christ can cancel the power of sin. Faith in Christ and the new birth that it brings is the only cure for sin and for racial prejudice. In last book of the New Testament, Revelation, there is a prophetic song to Christ. The lyrics declare,

'You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.'

Rev. 5:9, 10)

Through Christ the content of our character become noble. And through Christ we can truly all become one family.