HOW ABOUT A HEART LIFT?
In December, 1950, famous American novelist William Faulkner, said the following during his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help a man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.”
I’ve never been an admirer of Faulkner either as a man or a writer. I know that what he said was within the context of writers and writing, Nevertheless, relative to encouragement and duty, what he said struck a “chord” with me in terms of its applicability to Christians in general and to preachers in particular. My thoughts:
First, we’re meant to not “merely endure,” but to live life “more abundantly” (John 10:10), and we have the God-given power to do this (Phil. 2:13; 4:13). We have a “soul and spirit capable” of enjoying “all the fullness of God.” We’re capable of exercising and exemplifying not just “compassion and sacrifice and endurance,” but also the love and Christlikeness that needs so much to be seen and felt today (Eph. 3:19; Matt. 5:14-16; Col. 1:27).
We can also be reminded by Faulkner’s speech that it’s our duty and “privilege to help a man endure by lifting his heart.” We need to take, make and act upon opportunities, wherever we are, and with whoever we can, to lift other's hearts. People in our families, our acquaintances, and among the strangers we meet, desperately need the “heart-lift” we might give them with a word or a deed. Let us ask ourselves, “If not you, then who? — and if not now, then when?”
Galations 6:10 says, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” This is the privilege and responsibility of every Christian. The men however, who are most uniquely privileged, positioned, prepared and responsible to lift up the hearts of people, especially them who are of the household of faith,” are pastors. This is what needs to take preeminence over, and drive, all their sermon-building and preaching, their congregation building and everything else they do. If it doesn’t, everything else means nothing.
Some of the best writing Faulkner ever did was in the speech he prepared to accept the nobel prize. Too, bad that he, no doubt, didn’t realize it.
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