“I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

We so often think of Martin Luther King as a leader and speaker that we often forget he was a preacher and writer. His wife Coretta said that Strength To Love (1963) was the book “…that people consistently tell me has changed their lives.” The messages in that work are just as relevant today as they were a half century ago.

His breadth of knowledge is remarkable. One chapter he’s quoting Shakespeare and Keats, the next he’s demonstrating a historical understanding of the great civilizations. One sermon breaks down psychological responses to disappointment, the next features lessons of science and the universe. Logic and philosophy are also woven throughout. King was a Renaissance Man.

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As with any work saturated in truth, Strength To Love contains vulnerability as well. He recalls the early days of the movement when he was new to leadership, when the threats could no longer be sloughed off, when fear and doubt crept in. After another threatening call late at night he reached his midnight garden.

“I tried to think of a way to move out of the picture without appearing to be a coward.” He then began to pray aloud over his kitchen table.

“I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.”

He emerged from that night with a renewed inner calm ”ready to face anything.” Three nights later the home he provided for his family was bombed. His faith got him through.

King challenged those around him to become nonconformists with words just as meaningful today.

“In these days of worldwide confusion, there is a dire need for men and women who will courageously do battle for truth…We must make a choice.” 

Traveling that road was never supposed to be easy. Imagine your six-year-old daughter asking, “Daddy, why do you have to go to jail so much?” King reminds us that the cross we bear always precedes the crown we wear. He understood the costs of his cause. Following the strategy of Gandhi and living for Jesus made a tragic fate something to be reckoned with.

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Our world is still divided although race is no longer the major line of demarcation. Hatred spews in conversations as beliefs and ideas collide. The civility King spoke of is missing. Everyone believes they are right and uses that feeling as a weapon to pummel anyone who disagrees. Continue Reading…