He was crooked and he became straight. He was stingy and he became generous. There is something quite practical about forgiveness. In Wisconsin I once helped to get an old man converted, and he was so glad, so grateful, that he wanted to give me his horse. It was all I could do to keep him from giving me that horse.
Religion makes people big.
It makes them joyous and generous and open handed and openhearted. There is something very practical and very exciting about forgiveness. There is a story about Zacchaeus after his conversion in the sycamore tree. He behaved so strangely that his wife was alarmed by what she thought were symptoms of insanity. Every morning instead of going down to his business, as a sane man ought to do, he set off in the opposite direction with a spade in his hand and a water jar under his arm.