What would happen to you if you needed to return a book to the library that had been checked out a while ago, 78 years ago, to be exact? That’s what Harlean Hoffman Vision was worried about. She had a limited edition copy of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray that had been checked out in 1936. Harlean knew the fine would be huge and thought she might face jail time, so she just couldn’t bring herself to walk through the doors of the Chicago Public Library and return her book.
Harlean wasn’t alone. The Chicago Public Library system was owed about $1.4 million in fines for overdue books. Pretty hefty when you consider they accrue at only 10 cents a day and have had a cap placed on them in recent years. Chicago Public Library Commissioner Brian Bannon wasn’t concerned about dragging young kids to justice or sending grannies to jail. He wanted his books back so they could be loaned out. Some simple economics suggested it just might be time to waive the fines and invite the patrons back through the library doors. So for 19 days only, and for the first time since 1992, the library offered an amnesty. Just by returning a book, a patron’s record would be wiped clean without any fine. People started pouring in the doors. By the time the offer ended on September 7, 2012, deadbeat patrons had returned 101,301 books, CDs and DVDs and been forgiven $641,820 in fines. The program was declared a big success since the books returned were worth $2 million and circulation is now expected to surge as forgiven patrons return to the system.
This wasn’t meant to encourage racking up big fines in the hopes of another amnesty program next year. Now the once-in-a-blue-moon amnesty is over. The average fine forgiven in the amnesty was $6.34. Harlean’s fine would have been about $6,000, but even so, she wasn’t facing any jail time. All this reminds me of a far more extensive, expensive and long-lasting offer of forgiveness that is about to come to an end.
You and I have a debt of sin that we owe to God and don’t have the slightest chance of being able to pay. God’s Word, the Bible, states it boldly when it says, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:22But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)). Eternal separation from God occurs in a real place — hell. People who have rejected God, refused His love, rejected His mercy and rebelled against His commands will find themselves forever separated from the One who gave them all the truly good things they ever possessed. Not being able to use the Chicago Public Library system is a nuisance but not a tragedy. Being forever separated from God and His goodness is the essence of hell.
God states clearly His way of forgiving all who have sinned, or rebelled, against Him. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). That’s it. There is no other way. Harlean didn’t pay $10 of her fine and get forgiven the remaining $5,990. She was forgiven the entire amount. But she did return The Picture of Dorian Gray to its rightful owner. We can’t even do that much. However, Jesus Christ says, “I restored that which I took not away” (Psalm 69:44They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. (Psalm 69:4)). The Chicago Public Library system was out to get more than it gave and it succeeded. God gave all He had and now gets repentant sinners back. Won’t you receive “the gift of God” (John 4:1010Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:10))? There’s only a limited time to get the gift. God only offers it now, with no guarantee of tomorrow. “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).