Pastor Bob Hurd

There has been a lot of talk about peace in recent days.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said we are to be peacemakers, and that such people will be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9

A child of God, and clearly a man of God who was dedicated to peace, Martin Luther King Jr. embraced and modeled the divine peace of His Lord as a civil rights leader in the South.

He preached and practiced nonviolent civil disobedience, crying out for justice, and was jailed 29 times for his trouble in less than 10 years.

In 1963, he led the March on Washington, with over 200,000 peaceful protesters, culminating Aug. 28 with his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Afterward, King met with President Kennedy in the Oval Office and dialogued about civil rights legislation. He went on to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964, the same year the Civil Rights Act passed.

I was born that same year, on Jan. 15, sharing the same birthday as King.

I remember that while the war raged on in Southeast Asia, I saw MLK Jr.’s birthday highlighted on my calendar.

I was proud that I shared a birthday with such a celebrated man of God. I did not understand it at the time, that in my ethnically undiverse community in northwest Pennsylvania, why most folks did not share in my enthusiasm.

After I became a Christian, I understood that their hearts were hypocritical.

The good news was that I realized that I shared more with my Baptist brother than just a birthdate in January. His words of peace, unity and justice flowed from our Savior.

Many people have an opinion on how we might find peace and justice in these turbulent times, but Christ himself told us that real peace is only found in Him. John 14:27

May our prayers echo those that the Apostle Paul had for the church in Colossae: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15

The takeaway is that if we allow the King to rule and reign in our hearts, we will find true peace that we can share that will change the world.

Pastor Bob Hurd is the pastor of Whitestown Road Baptist Church in Butler.