A lot of people know that Denzel Washington is a Christian, and he's never been particularly shy about it. And Dillard University is at least nominally a Christian college, so it's not as if Denzel brought this message to Harvard. Now that would have been controversial (Harvard's origins as a Christian seminary notwithstanding). But what I love about this address is not just that a celebrity associated with secular art delivered it. It's the unusually excellent substance of what he said, crammed into 11 minutes at that:
The two strongest themes here (and there's one that's especially Christian and one that's especially conservative), are:
Give thanks to God for what's already yours. The idea here is that God has certain blessings already designated for you, and He will release them to you when you're ready to receive them - ready in terms of discipline and obedience to Him, and a readiness to use those blessings for His glory not for your own.
Just because you're doing more doesn't mean you're getting more done. This shows that Denzel understands the difference between mere expending of energy and actual achievement. You need goals, strategies and a real understanding of the value of what you're doing. Otherwise you can spend a lot of time and work really hard with little to show for it. People who want to be paid more need to take a look at the value of what they're doing, not just how hard they work at it or even how well they do it. You can be really good at something that doesn't represent that much value to someone else, and that's why you're not making what you want to make.
I am a big Denzel fan - both as an actor and as a person. I know he's been supportive of Obama in the past and some of you are going to have a problem with that. Fair enough. I agree that's an inconsistency because Obama's policies and rhetoric are opposed to the things Denzel is saying here. But that doesn't change the fact that Denzel provides an excellent vision here for how to stay close to the Lord and for how to apply that closeness to success and impact in your life.
Enjoy the whole 11 minutes, which is a pretty reasonable length for a commencement address, and share it with someone you know who needs to hear it.
A lot of people know that Denzel Washington is a Christian, and he's never been particularly shy about it. And Dillard University is at least nominally a Christian college, so it's not as if Denzel brought this message to Harvard. Now that would have been controversial (Harvard's origins as a Christian seminary notwithstanding). But what I love about this address is not just that a celebrity associated with secular art delivered it. It's the unusually excellent substance of what he said, crammed into 11 minutes at that:
