If Cleveland Can Forgive LeBron...

One of the most heralded sports stories of the year has been the return of LeBron James to his native Cleveland--the city that expressed profound hatred for him four years earlier when he left via free agency for the Miami Heat. All was forgiven when basketball’s “King James” returned home like the prodigal son.

Another noteworthy story--actually one among many that grace our news reports from time to time--is that of Mary Johnson of Minneapolis, and how she came to forgive the teenager who killed her sixteen-year old son in 1993. You can read her story here.

Jesus explicitly taught that if we do not forgive, God will not forgive us. (Matthew6:15) If God does not forgive us, we’re toast. If there is even one person in our life we cannot bring ourselves to forgive, Jesus tells us we can forget about ever going to Heaven. Plain and simple.

After using that expression with a group about being “toast” without God’s forgiveness, I composed an “ad” for forgiveness, along the lines of a series of advertisements recently run for a television provider. My “ad” for forgiveness goes like this:

When someone hurts you, you get mad.

When you get mad, you want to get even.

When you want to get even, you start thinking of mean things to do.

When you start thinking of mean things to do, you become a mean person.

When you become a mean person, you don’t know how to forgive.

When you don’t know how to forgive, you don’t forgive.

When you don’t forgive, God doesn’t forgive you.

When God doesn’t forgive you, you become a burned piece of toast to be thrown out in the garbage.

Don’t be a burned piece of toast to be thrown out in the garbage.

Fiorgive.