I am not a guy who typically talks to the people next to me
on a plane. This is mostly as a curtesy
to my fellow passengers. If you are an
introvert (as roughly half of all people are) then I would imagine the idea of
being strapped to a seat forced to converse with a person you do not know who
is already dangerously close to your personal space is about the worst thing
that can happen to you. Thus, as a
respectful extravert, I sit in silence and wait for my seat-mate break the ice.
On a recent flight, the ice was broken with a delightful
lady who was on her way to teach in central America. She told me about how she likes to teach
because she sees that as the best way to change the world for the better. She asked what I do, and I told her I do something
similar, but I teach the Bible. This got
her talking about spiritual things, and she admitted that she struggled with
all the suffering in the world and could not understand why it happens.
She then changed the conversation and asked how I ended up
teaching the Bible in Bulgaria.
I told her, that it is a long story that goes back years,
but at the heart it connects to her question about suffering in the world. The reason that there is suffering in the
world is because of people. Our
selfishness had led to cheating, dishonesty, immorality, and murder. The cause of suffering in the world is the
heart of humanity, and the world cannot be fixed until hearts are fixed.
We might ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone.” In that respect, I have never seen bad things
happen to good people because I have never met a good person.
We cannot change the world without first having our hearts
transformed. That is why I teach the Bible. Some turn to politics to change the world through
force of government, but the only way to really change the world is to start in
the hearts of the individual. Since I
cannot change people’s hearts, I teach them about the one who can and point
them to Him.
We make our own suffering.
Jesus came to end it. Let Him change
your heart.
