Are you carrying around the burden and weight of your most heinous acts? Maybe you took something that wasn’t yours, leading to a life of deceit. Perhaps you made a string of foolish choices that destroyed your closest relationships. Possibly, addiction has captured your soul. How do we make sense of bad things happening to seemingly good people? Perspective Number Seven is: The Cross.

All sin, everything evil, is judged at the cross of Christ. When we surrender our lives to Him, our debt is paid in full: “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all” (Hebrews 10:10). The cross of Christ is the ultimate picture of where the vertical intersects with the horizontal. Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, reconciled the vertical relationship of man with God and provided the same peace for horizontal relationships between individuals on earth.

Pride is the lock on the human heart. Humility is the key. The cross is the master key that unlocks the gate to a new and satisfied life of authenticity in Christ.

When on the cross, Jesus said: “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word for the phrase is teleo. This was the same word written at the top of a Bill of Sale marked, “Paid in Full.” The perfect life, death, and resurrection of Christ is the clearest portrait of undeserved love ever painted on history’s canvas. John also recorded the ultimate sign of Christ’s empty tomb, proving He conquered sin and death. There is no further requirement for the payment of our iniquities: “And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (Hebrews 10:18).

Our most pious efforts add nothing to Christ’s payment for our transgressions against God. All we can do is turn to Him, by grace, through faith, and receive His gift of eternal life. Therefore, the question each of us must answer is captured in the acronym WISE: “Will I Surrender Everything?”

Will you surrender everything to Christ who will forgive you and restore you (see 1 John 1:9)? He wants to use you for your ultimate purpose: to bring His restoration to others. Make today the day that you surrender everything at the cross of Jesus Christ.

Episode 393: Restoration Theology | Christology: The Study of Christ from mitchkrusetv on Vimeo.