Thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr.

     Every January, as many people enjoy a day off from work or school, I wonder how many think about why we celebrate this holiday known as "MLK Day". Some spend it like just another day. Others, use it to honor whom most say is the greatest civil rights activists in history. It is often called a day of service, or "A day on, not a day off", meaning we spend the day to serve our community or to those in need. I find it interesting...
that it is a day that garners much more attention and celebration than even a birthday of an American president.


     Martin Luther King, Jr. is widely praised as a civil rights leader. He was certainly that. However, King was more than that. He was not a politician. He was a servant-- a servant of God and a servant of mankind. Many fail to understand that Martin Luther King had a dream, not just for Black America, but for all of humanity. What made him a man of excellence was that he knew who he was, not in the eyes of man but in the eyes of God.

     Recently, a monument was erected on the mall in Washington DC for him where some of the greatest leaders of our country have been honored and memorialized. King has not always been viewed as a great American leader. Once, he was considered a menace, even by government leaders in his day. J. Edgar Hoover even tried to tie him in with the Communist Party. He was jailed and assassinated by those motivated by hate. The monument that now stands among leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt is testament to how God vindicates servants who are willing to stand for justice.

     Yes, Martin Luther King, Jr. was more than a civil rights activist. He fought for truth, he fought for love, and he fought for life. He did so in the midst of his own trials as a black man struggling in a white man's America. Nevertheless, he didn't just make life better for the black race. He made it better for all of us. As long as we view King as a great civil rights leader, the struggle will continue. It will end when we see ourselves, not as other men see us, but how we are seen through the eyes of God.