In a very unusual way, this days I find myself reading about three books at the same time. One of this books to my utmost surprise, is a novel. Surprised because I have read about sixty percent of the novel. I have never read a novel before. Up until now every time that I make myself read one, I have never pass the first chapter. But, I will like to tell you about another book I’m reading.
The book is “Left to tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust” (I’m reading the Spanish version) The author, Immaculee Ilibagiza, write about the tragedy she and her family experienced during the Rwandan genocide. Last night, my wife and I (we are reading the book together) ended the chapter that begins to narrate the details of how Immaculate’s Tutsi’s neighbors and family were massacred. I must confess that I don’t look forward to read the description of such a dreadful tragedy. I will attempt to do so.
This morning on my devotional reading I read the following verse: “The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live...” Ecclesiastes 9:3.
How well does the wise man describe our human predicament!
Yes, there were political conditions that nurtured this tragic developments in Rwanda. Yes, the white Belgians were guilty of promoting and nurturing the oppression of one group of people over another.
But, yes, there is a surmountable capacity for evil in the human heart.
The only way I know, by which we can overcome this evil, is by the healing and transformation of the human heart by the grace of God revealed in and through Christ Jesus.
Carlos M