The Plumbline

Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right. And you are healed because of his wounds. (I Peter 2:24) We may not understand fully how one man can carry the sins of all mankind, but we can trust that Christ did just that. How can one do so much for so many? We know God's ways are not man's ways, so 'how' he did it isn't as important as 'why' he did it and 'who' he did it for. He took on the sins of all mankind because of his tremendous love for his creation - all mankind. Do we fully understand his love - no, but we can see what his love can do when a life is submitted to his care! He took our sins IN HIS BODY to the cross and he hung there in our place - affording a means by which judgment for each and every one of those sins could be dealt with once and for all. Our responsibility is to lay down our old selfish ways of thinking and acting, taking on a new way of living. That new

Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven. (Michelangelo) Michelangelo may have a portion of this 'going to heaven' thing correct, but I know the only death that really mattered was Christ's. The only thing that draws us all into his arms is his intense love for each of us. So, it is indeed a death and some pretty amazing love that bears us to heaven...but...none of us are 'good men' or 'good women' without Christ. So, even the goodness of mankind is reliant upon the love of God! “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again . Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the