With a few exception, most people seem to realize that they have done wrong. People may not agree with each other about what constitutes sin, but they often know that they have done things that they themselves believe to be wrong. It would not be difficult to convince the average guy or girl that they are wrong doers or even sinners. Usually we are not short on guilt of one kind or another. What seems to be the most difficult for Christian leaders is to convince people that God forgives. It is almost as if they say in their minds “I wouldn’t forgive someone who did what I did.” Perhaps at heart it is that we find it difficult to forgive ourselves. On one level it is as if we said “I know better than you do, God. You shouldn’t be so forgiving.” It is exactly Jonah’s complaint about God forgiving Ninevah. If we admit that God is that kind of forgiving being then we might feel compelled to forgive those we would just as soon not forgive. There is a certain satisfaction in believing, “Well at least, I’m not as bad as that other person.” It sounds a sour note when we examine our own short comings. Forgiveness from God must be a universal offering or we might fear finding ourselves among the unforgiven. That God could forgive those who do not deserve it seems wrong until we consider ourselves and then we want to shout, “God have mercy on me.” We in the Christian faith take sin and wrong doing both public and private as a serious matter, but we take grace, mercy, and forgiveness as serious matters as well. For ourselves and others we pray “Lord have mercy!”