The Christian Response to the Coronavirus
The Promise of Purpose
By Reverend Dr. RB Holmes, Pastor
Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Today, April 4th is the day that Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered in 1968. If you were born during that dark day, where were you? I know where I was: a young teenager, very stunned and saddened. I was struggling with my sense of purpose and destiny. I knew God had a calling on my life. I was just beginning to organize my classmates, neighbors and friends from church. We organized an association back in the day called “C.R.I.B.” This acronym stood for “Community Relations in Blackness.” God gave me a purpose and a vision to work to bring my people together. God called me to get involved in lifting up my all black neighborhood, a neighborhood that had a father and mother in the household; a neighborhood where everybody owned their homes; a neighborhood where everybody went to church; and a neighborhood where we knew each other. It was a purpose-driven neighborhood called “Floradale.”
The Death of Dr. King ignited a purpose in my mind, in my spirit, in my soul and in my heart. A God-given purpose will keep you from having too many self-pity parties; it will lift your self esteem, and it will propel you to never say die. You know, that was the spirit that I learned from my parents, my grandparents, my siblings, my pastors, my neighbors, my coaches, and yes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That spirit was to never give up on your purpose and your destiny. Never cease to dream, to go forward, and stay determined. God has given all of us a purpose. God promised us that we can live a purposeful life. Listen to what God said in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou cameth forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” The promise of purpose: Dr. King knew his purpose; he lived his purpose and he fulfilled his purpose.
What about you?
Listen, don’t let anything or anybody destroy your purpose. It does not matter your color, your age, your race, your gender, your income, your neighborhood… you are a “destiny child;” you are a gift from God; you have a purpose. Jesus said in St. John 15: 16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, he may give it you.” The promise of purpose! My friend, you have it! Yes, during this coronavirus crisis, stir it up! Amen.
