On the tombstone of a bishop, it is written as follows: "I had a dream to change the world when I was in youth, freedom and strong imagination. But I realized that the world does not change when I became mature and wise. So I reduced my vision and determined to change only my own country. But with time it also looked impossible to be achieved.
Meanwhile I became an aged man and determined once again to change
at least my nearest beings, that is, my family considering it is the last chance in my life. But they did not seem to be changed.
Now an idea struck me suddenly who lied on the bed of the last breath. If I had changed myself at best, my family would have been changed at the sight of my changed being, and then I could have changed my own country into the better with the inspiration and the encouragement that I received from my family. And perhaps how wonderful it would be that I might have changed even the world!"
The man wanted to change the world into the better place, but realized how to change the world just before his death. So his word is a painful confession and advice that he wanted to tell many ages to come continually.
This teaches you that it is impossible for you to change others without changing yourself first. Then, how can you change yourself?
Kim-gu Baik-beom had a dream to pass the state examination and rise to high position in his youth. But sooner or later he found it difficult to pass the state examination only with the ability because the bribe was considered as a very grave thing in his days, and he was discouraged. At that time his father said to him, "You can earn much money and have no worry in your life if you become a good fortuneteller." His father said as just a kidding to encourage him, but he bought some books on fortune-telling and began to study those books hard.
By the way, he was surprised to tell his own fortune on the basis of his fortune-telling study because it told that he would be extremely wicked in hi society. He was discouraged again and made up his mind to abandon it. However, a piece of word on the last page of a fortune-telling book stood out to his eyes just before he folded the book.
That word changed his life fully at that moment. It said, "Good fortune is less than good health and good health is less than good heart." In other words, even a man with a great fortune is not better than a man with good health, and a man with good heart is better than a very healthy man. At this word, he realized that even though he had a very serious misfortune, he could overcome it when he changed his heart into good and valuable one. From then, he aimed at cultivating his inner part, that is, his heart.
As a result, he became a great national leader and is favored by many people even after his death. In a sense, it seems boring and unreasonable that one man next you can be changed when you change yourself. Or some people say that it is unacceptable in this age when everything is done at a very high speed.
But you should remember that to changing a man is very different from manufacturing mass products. Nothing is useful without the life.
Yeast looks like a little thing, but can swell up a large amount of flour to make dough because it has life. Is the world absurd to your eyes? Do your husband or wife, children, superiors in your office, staffs in your company not seem to be hopeful at all?
It says in Matthew 12: 35, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." And it also says in Matthew 5: 16, "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
Let's examine ourselves coolly more than anything else. It's up to us that the world is dark. That is, it is dark because we have not come to the light much more and have not become the purer water of life towards the world. The point of the problem is inside us. Let's examine our hearts exactly through the mirror of the word of God. I hope we may polish the hearts and change them into the ones enough to give the grace to its seers.