Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a man I greatly admire. Perhaps no other single individual in recent times so eloquently imprinted his vision upon society than he did. His story truly is a study in raw courage and elegant grace.
With tomorrow being his birthday, I’d like to share with you an excerpt from one of his speeches:
“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.’”
Two phrases in King’s speech grab my attention –”fierce urgency of now,” and “too late.” Dr. King was well aware of the implications of both. Fully prepared to meet the fierceness of his time’s need and equally determined to do it before it was too late, I believe he knew God had placed him where he was with the gifts he had for a particular reason.
As Christians, we can’t afford to be any less certain of the world in which we live. We are where we are with the abilities we have for one reason–this is where God wants us. And the reason isn’t so we can live life for ourselves. It’s so we can meet the fierce urgencies that swirl around us now–in our time and in our place.
But be warned: ”Now” doesn’t last forever. If we fail to use what God has given us to meet the need we see, then with one hand we will scrawl the pathetic words “Too Late” across our own community while in the other hand we will hold our unused potential.
What fierce-urgency-of-now need is waiting to be met by your God-given potential?
Live The Mission,
Greg
