An Inner Discipline By Which You Drain Yourself of Any Ill-Will Toward That Person

It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Have you watched the speech with your kiddos yet?

(Careful, as always, to NEVER scroll down into the comments on YouTube. Talk about depravity and the opposite of the video. Blech!!)

I won’t go into my whole (annual) list of things you may want to consider as you talk with your children about evil (especially the evil of racism), but I do want to direct you to an article I read this morning that not only resonated with me deeply, it also reminded me of two of my favorite Timothy Keller sermons (both of which mention Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and one of them specifically exegetes Jesus’ teaching on “turning the other cheek”):

Martin Luther King and Jesus Christ (by Pastor Loritts)

The Community of Jesus (by Pastor Keller)

The Healing of Anger (by Pastor Keller)

I hope that we are all grateful for Dr. King. And I hope that we all continue to pray. Refrain from revenge. Hate evil. And actively do good to those who hurt us (maltreat us, betray us, gossip about us, avoid us, ignore us, judge us, harshly and gracelessly criticize us, bankrupt us, hate us). Remembering, of course, that “doing good” will look very different in different situations.

In the words of Timothy Keller:

[Jesus says] “Pray for those who mistreat you.” That’s an inner thing! He says that when you see someone not only who disagrees with you, but someone is out to hurt you; I want you to engage in an inner discipline by which you drain yourself of any ill-will toward that person.

When He says “Pray,” He wants you to see that person as someone who’s just as much in need as you: another human being with all the needs. And He wants you to bring yourself in the position where you want their flourishing (no matter what they have done to you) rather their pain …

So the first thing is the inner work; and the second thing is the outer work.

What the outer work? “Do good.” … Now what is that mean? Let me ask you a question: Is the best thing for a person is the most good thing for a person? To someone who lied, who cheated, who oppressed you or something wrong like that, someone with this pattern in his or her life: Is the best thing for them is to have them continue doing it? No!

So what is good for a person who really, really, really, really in the wrong? The answer is: once you drained yourself of any ill will toward them, to confront them. To either try to persuade them at best, or convince them, or at the very least restrain them. That would be the best thing to do … But you must do them without an iota of desire to hurt them, to belittle them, to humiliate them, at all.”