I just finished reading the autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was interested in reading it one, because hello he's interesting, and two because I feel like although i have good idea of what he was about I really wanted to dive deeper into his life. This book was wonderful because it revealed his inner life of seeking God as well as his personal thoughts of the happenings going on around him, as well as just his journey to how grew into man that he was.
Something that really makes me look up to him as not only someone who always stood for what his convictions, and not only as a really wise and intelligent man and theologian, was his incredible faith in a God who can do all things. His whole life was an outpouring of the inner relationship and commitment he had to Christ. Everything came from that, and not the other way around. That is the same way I feel about Mother Teresa. Above all, she wanted people to look to Christ, not to her, because everything she did was just a simple outpouring of the love that she experienced with her Savior. Martin Luther King stressed over and over that he just answered a call-he was in the right place in history and basically said yes to God-it could have been anyone. I love that because it puts into perspective our humanity. We are all only human, and God is going to do what He is going to do, He is just looking for people to say yes. As someone told me last night, God is at work and will accomplish His plans, if we want to join Him we can.
I thought I'd share some of the quotes that really stuck out to me as relevant for us today. It is interesting to read about the struggles that were going on in the late 60's, for when I look around we are still facing a lot of the same struggles. I wonder what MLK would think today if he looked around, still seeing some of the same mess. However I do think that as long as we are trusting in God, there is hope. That hope is what we can cling to.
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech from 1964:
"I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome!"
At the university of Olso, he gave a lecture which he presented what he believed to me the three largest issues we face. They are racial injustice around the world, poverty, and war. I think that is something to think about today.
A few years later he spoke out as an advocate for antiwar. He said "A nation that continues to year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." In light of the war we are currently in, I think that is very true. I am continually appalled at the amount of money poured into the military per month in the U.S.
At one point when people were giving him a lot of criticism he said this: "They seem to forget that before I was a civil rights leader, I answered a call-and when God speaks, who can but prophesy? I answered a call which left the Spirit of the Lord upon me and anointed me to preach the gospel." The gospel of Christ and justice for the poor and oppressed were inseparable. I believe this to be true.
Another one I love " We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries, or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to humanity."
The last thing I will leave you with is what he said in a speech regarding the Poor People's Campaign, which he launched before his death to address issues of economic injustice but was killed before he could see it come to fruition. These words are of a man who is living in the now, living a kingdom life, a bold and fearless life full of freedom: "It really doesn't matter what happens now.... some began to... talk about the threats that were out – what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers.... Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
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