Rhonda and I have an ongoing thing in which we rate coincidences that come up in our lives on a scale from 1-10. 1 is basically a “huh, that’s cool” but could happen any day. A 10, though, happens exceptionally rarely. I think to date, maybe once in our 21+ years together we could point to what was such a bizarre coincidence that words fell short and we were convinced there had to be more going on beneath the surface. This past Monday morning we didn’t experience a 10, per se, but certainly a story worth sharing.*

Every weekday morning Rhonda and I read a devotional from Skye Jethani that comes to our inbox. Lately, Skye has been going through various spiritual leaders throughout history, gleaning lessons from them. Prior to reading the devotional on this particular Monday morning, I opened an email from a Grassrooter who had sent me a quote from MLK Jr that had reminded him of what we had talked about at church on Sunday. I read the quote, which I had not recalled reading before, to Rhonda and we both agreed: it was a solid quote. Lots of wisdom, etc. etc. Then I opened the devotional email and who do you think the spiritual figure was focused on that day? That’s right, MLK Jr. Not a bad coincidence in itself, sure, but guess what quote was shared in the devotional? That’s right, the very same. Out of the hundreds of quotes MLK is famous for, this was the one highlighted that morning. I stopped in my tracks.

Now, when things like this happen, what do you do? Simply smile and chalk it up as a mere coincidence before moving on? Or do you choose to see that perhaps something more is happening here? Something serendipitous? Perhaps, Someone is trying to get me to pay attention to something. I recognize there are risks to interpreting coincidences this way, but regardless, it’s what I opted for in this situation. And so I read the quote again, slowly this time and in doing so I was both challenged and confirmed that this is a prophetic word for our day. Decide for yourself:

“Hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does to the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates . . . You can’t see straight when you hate. You can’t walk straight when you hate. You can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted. There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case…. For the person who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false become true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. The symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater . . . So Jesus says love because hate destroys the hater as well as the hated.”

I’m typically not one to do this sort of thing, to be honest. Yet, as it happens, due perhaps to the means in which I encountered these words of MLK Jr, it’s been playing in my head all week and the more I contemplate it, the more I’m uncomfortable with its ability to pierce my own heart. The truth is, I may not use words like “hate” all that often but this does not mean my intent and my heart is not echoing the same note that the word itself connotes. As I think about it, one such barrier to spiritual maturity is a preconceived resentment, disdain, rejection, dismissal (aka “hate”) of the “other” due to, well, whatever – differing beliefs, conflicting values, perceived hypocrisy, you name it. All that hate gets in the way of seeing the imago dei in the other which is something ALL of us, no matter where we find ourselves on the ideological spectrum, need to pay attention and work on in our pursuit of overcoming the polarization of our day and to find our way back to one another.

So yah, I’ll leave it there. Mere coincidence or more than that? Wherever you land, there’s a lot to be gained in paying attention to these moments. Trust you’ll take some time to consider these words from MLK Jr., especially in light of Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemy in Matthew 5 (The Message):

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves.

 

Also, curiously, what would you have rated this coincidence? I’m giving it a 7-8. Do you have any “10s” in your life worth sharing?! Let us know in the comments 😉

* Before you get all excited about this, I should caveat that for a coincidence to be high on the scale it doesn’t mean it has to be high in significance or earth-shattering in nature. Rather, a coincidence is “a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection” – the more remarkable, the higher up the coincidence scale. 😉