As we approached an important high school wrestling meet with our cross-town rival, weight class assignments were made. Everyone knew the importance of making the assigned weight. It gave our team the best match-ups against our opponent. Unfortunately, our 171 lb wrestler failed to make weight, a blow to our chances of winning the match. He hung his head, sat at the end of the team bench and said little. He knew his mistake let the team down. We lost by three points. On the bus ride home, I could hear the accusations from his teammates.

The next day, he was missing from practice. Again, there were resentful comments. Silently, I asked God for guidance.  Immediately, I thought of Jesus’ confrontation with the angry crowd and the adulteress woman in Scripture.

Bringing my athletes into the middle of the mat, I reminded them how we had begun the season more like distant relatives,  but, through our shared experiences, we were now brothers. We all had made mistakes. As a family, we had accepted those mistakes and moved on. Seeing some with doubt in their faces, I was led to further challenge them with this statement, “Anyone who has never made a mistake could criticize him, however, if not then we will accept him and forgive him.”  The next day, the wrestler who thought he let everyone down was back at practice among his teammates with 100% support. 

Jesus’ example continually reminds us of God’s undeserved favor (grace). God’s love and forgiveness are open to us as we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. As Christ-followers and brothers and sisters in Christ, we must also offer love and forgiveness to others.