You know how we often talk about being aware of what God is doing around you?
“Be aware of his presence…”
“Consider where in your life God is at work…”
“What is God speaking to you in the everyday, mundane moments?”
Well, on Wednesday, God spoke to me through the Toronto Public Library. Yes, that’s right. Even the public library rules and regulations can speak to us about the heart of God.
Back in October 2023, there was a massive cybersecurity attack on the Toronto Public Library. Data of library employees was breached, all systems of the library shut down (the website catalogues, personal accounts, branch computers, printers and photocopiers, etc.). It was awful!
To give you an idea of just how extensive this library hack was, an article from March 2024 reported that the Toronto Public Library was “almost fully recovered”… five months after the original cybersecurity attack.
Anyway, luckily for myself and other fellow library-users, books were still able to be checked out. Of course, they couldn’t use their library systems, so librarians needed to check everything out with the Old School Techniques (paper and pen).
Also luckily for myself and other fellow late-to-return-books library-users, there were no late fees at all during this time! You could renew a book simply by telling the library employees, “I’d like to keep my book out for longer” and they would reply with, “We have no way to track that, just bring it back as soon as you can or when we finally email you.”
So fast forward about another five months after I originally took out my book, I began getting emails about a late book. Loads of email notices later, I received a final notice in the mail that said since the book I had borrowed was SO overdue, they had counted it “Lost” and I would now need to pay $19.71 to pay for the book I had lost.
And I am a pastor!! How horrible is that?!
On Wednesday, I finally made my way back to the library and sheepishly shared that I was returning a mega overdue book and that I probably owed them a pretty… significant… amount of money. I figured that since I was bringing the book back, there would be a massive late-fee left to pay instead of the $19.71 I would’ve paid for the book. And on top of all that, I hadn’t even remembered my library card!
The woman laughed at “mega overdue” (apparently that was the first time she’d heard that one) as she scanned the book and typed away on her fully-functioning and operational library system computer. She turned the screen and asked quietly if “that was me” and I nodded seriously when my name popped up on her screen.
She turned the screen back, typed a little more and then looked up at me and smiled.
“I have some good news for you!”
Apparently, the library changed their overdue fee policy a while back and they no longer require people to pay overdue charges when they bring back their “mega overdue” books! If you can bring back the “lost” book, the big scary amount detailed in your letter gets cleared from the balance of your library card. Just like that.
The library gets their book back, fellow library-users get access to the book that was missing and never truly lost at all, and the cost of your mistakes gets wiped away.
This woman even offered to give me the book right back since there were no holds on it, and let’s be real… I had never made it much past chapter one.
I told her that it was VERY kind of her to make this offer to me, knowing what kind of library user I am and that I would come back for it another time when I had more time to actually read it.
“Okay!” she replied cheerily. “You are now officially freed from Library Jail.”
And here is where I was able to see God’s work exemplified in a real-life situation:
Although I had been a terrible steward of the library’s property and was four and a half months overdue in returning said property, the response was one of mercy and freedom.
The coolest part to me was that this wasn’t just the choice of the kind librarian I spoke with. This is the new policy of the library. This is what building mercy into our systems can look like… this is what the Kingdom can look like in our world.
In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus responds to Peter’s question about how often we should forgive our brothers and sisters with a parable.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
God’s love and mercy extend so much further beyond what we could ever comprehend.
Even when the servant promised to pay things back later, the Master declined that offer, canceled the debt and let him go. There was no scolding, there was no “promise me you’ll never ever do this again”… there was pity, mercy and freedom.
[Apparently, this devo has become more of a sermonette, so thank you for sticking with me, all of you readers who remain ;)]
I see two choices set before us for how we will respond to a King and a Kingdom with such radical mercy and forgiveness: Will we choose to receive this outlandishly magnanimous* cancelation of debts and freedom? How will we treat others when we sit in the seat of power?
Because the parable didn’t just end there. The same servant who had been forgiven so much was unable to extend the same kind of care for another fellow servant. When he was owed only one hundred silver coins (nothing compared to ten thousand bags of gold!!) he choked the servant and demanded to be repaid immediately! He threw his fellow servant into jail until he would be able to pay him back.
The Master, of course, found out about this and was enraged. The servant was thrown into jail and tortured until he could pay back his original amount.
And so, Lifespring, how can we practically choose to receive such extravagant mercy and forgiveness from God? How can we become people who choose to remind one another of this kind of love that sets us free?
May we also become more and more forgiving and merciful to the people around us, choosing to extend the mind-boggling Kingdom Mercy we have become recipients of.
* Magnanimous: generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness