“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Within the United States, January 15th is the day set aside to recall the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., a man whose determined efforts to cease racial inequality made an indelible mark in the 1957-1968 civil rights movement.

Looking back, this was a period of time where ignorance regarding the races tended to run rampant, and people were judged, not by their characters, but by the color of their skin. It was a time when even some of our laws were unjust, and unnecessary hatred, fear and violence was perverting society’s self-acclaimed stand as a Bible-believing nation.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a graduate of Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Boston University. He was an ordained minister who led the boycott of segregated city bus lines, organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, spearheaded the 1963 March on Washington, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. King was also deeply concerned about people in poverty, but before he was able to continue with his plan of a Poor People’s March to Washington, he was assassinated.

Dr. King was of course not the only individual in the history of the world to take a stand against injustice, but there is no denying this was a man of remarkable courage and wisdom who dared to make a positive difference in the world.

Today, we thankfully can now look back and see just how necessary these efforts were because we are now a kinder, but at the time, many people rebelled and didn’t want their old ways of thinking and living challenged. Sadly, some people today still do the same thing; refuse to enact positive change, even when their current ways are destructive. They hide their head in the sand and turn their back on their own alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual immorality, gambling problem, hurting marriage or personal relationships, unfit parenting skills, and lack of respect and kindness toward others. Such individuals go about their daily life in spiritual blindness; not caring about what God would have them do.