Martin Luther King Junior's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
It gives me faith in mankind that
Martin Luther King Junior was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize within
his own lifetime. I was aware that he had won the prize, but I did
not know until today that he had lived to receive it. King appears
to be full of wisdom and godly words when looked at through the lens
of history, but I usually think that his message would not be treated
seriously by the politicians of today. I think he would be
considered a hopeless idealist and an extremist.
I've had a reservation about King that
I've not mentioned until now. King speaks about building an
incredible world; he casts a beautiful vision of a new world order.
My cynicism and rational Lutheran temperament make me wary of such an
ideal vision. I've been told since childhood that I live in a fallen
world and that it will always be a fallen world. I know that at the
end of days Jesus will gather all his people to himself and there
will be no more mourning. I ache with desire for the day when God's
kingdom will come. King challenges me to bring God's kingdom of
brotherhood, peace, and unconditional love now, and not to wait for
the end of days.
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| Photo By Lel4nd |
Regardless of which ideas are appealing
or unappealing to me, I ought to appraise King's vision based on the
incredible fruit it bore and continues to bear. King changed my
country; he changed the world. He has become a beckon of Gospel
light that even atheists turn to for guidance and illumination. King
believed that God was building his kingdom here on Earth every day.
My skepticism doesn't empower me to change the world the way King
did. Skepticism holds me back; I see that now, so it is time to leave skepticism
behind. Whatever limits exist for God's kingdom on earth are God's
business and not mine. There are enough real challenges without me
inventing limits for myself and my fellow man. Anything is possible
with God (Matthew 19:26),
and so long as anything is possible I invite you to join me in
building the kingdom of God that King spoke about, a place of
brotherhood and unconditional love. Perhaps in our fallen world we
cannot achieve perfection, but that's no reason to settle for the
status quo. It's time, for me at least, to repent of cynicism and
pursue an unrealistic vision for the world. May God's kingdom come
on earth.
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