Our Daily Bread: Remember the DreamSample

Reading Martin Luther King Jr.’s eulogy “They Have Something to Say,” reminds me of the danger of staying silent—even as I grapple with the many injustices impacting my generation (Millennials and Gen Z). King delivered the eulogy “They Have Something to Say” in 1963 at the funeral of Addie, Carol, and Cynthia, three of the four little Black girls killed in the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. While some refused to speak to this extreme injustice, the sting of the girls’ deaths stirred King to insist that “they have something to say to each of us” . . . to ministers of the gospel and politicians who remained silent; to a compromised federal government; and to Black Americans who “passively accepted the evil system of segregation and.” King calls out hatred, racism, hypocrisy, and complacency to “bring new light to this dark city.”

When Jesus gave His twelve disciples authority and sent them out to do ministry, He instructed them: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Jesus told the disciples to boldly proclaim that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” and to perform signs of its power (vv. 7-8) and not to remain silent. Boldness even amid fear was prescribed.

Though we may be afraid to speak out against injustice, God has called every believer in Jesus to be agents of change through Jesus who sets us free and transforms us by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can trust that when He puts a word on our hearts to share, He’ll also protect and guide us.

Toria Keyes

Where do you see injustice? How can you speak out about injustice?

Heavenly Father, please give me the boldness to say something—and do something—when I see injustice around me.