Thoughts from Martin Luther King

If you read the print version of ec, you'll know that this week's devos are all about injustice. Today, many of you are out of school in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., a man who saw injustice in his world and fought against it.


So this MLK Day, we invite you to learn a little more about him and ponder what it means for you as a believer to be a peacemaker in this world.

Dr. King was arrested 30 times for participating in civil rights activities. Some of his major speeches include “I Have a Dream”; the eulogy for the victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Ala.; the acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964; the address after the march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala.; and one in letter form to religious leaders of the city of Birmingham called “The Letter From Birmingham Jail.”


Thoughts on Justice from Martin Luther King Jr.:
“I refuse to accept the view that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him….”1

“Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.”2

“On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.”3

1. Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard, eds., A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., (New York: Warner Books, Inc., 2001), 107.
2. Clayborne Carson, ed., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., (New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1998), 196.
3. MLK Jr.’s speech delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968 and quoted in “Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution,” The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute [online], cited 20 August 2009. Available from the Internet: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/kingpapers/article/remaining_awake_through_a_great_revolution/.