On the Shoulders of GiantsSample

Living Our Words

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. -Matthew 5:16

At six years old, Frederick Douglass was sold and separated from his mother, who was a field hand. He later hypothesized that his father was the White planter who enslaved her. Douglass clearly remembered the horrors and inhumanity subjected on his loved ones, and spent his life recounting his trials as a slave.

Douglass escaped his enslavement in Maryland and eventually wrote five autobiographies about his life as a slave along with other papers and spoke widely as an abolitionist before and during the Civil War.

Because of the many atrocities and humiliations Douglass experienced and witnessed, he spoke out against slavery based on Scripture. Establishing his antislavery arguments, he made this and other observations: “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ . . .” And he added, “Therefore, I hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.”

It’s a wonder that Douglass remained a Christian in word and deed. Inspired by Scripture, Douglass tirelessly traveled to persuade White Christians of the horrors of slavery while fighting to free his people.

Like Douglass, let us ask God for strength to live out what we profess. Let us love our neighbors, and enemies, as ourselves so that our lights might shine and onlookers might give glory to God.

Marlena Graves

As I look within, can I discern any areas of my life where I need the help of the Spirit to better reflect the truth of the gospel?

Holy Spirit, help us have a healthy Christian community so that onlookers consider the truths of the gospel by what they observe in us.