"Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed us to the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

When we think about it over and over in our carnal minds, and not guided by the Holy Spirit, we can begin to take for granted the cleanliness that comes from being washed of our sins. What I like about this verse is that it makes me put it into a more 'black and white' perspective. When we think about the most vile and abominable criminals in all of history, like Hitler, Vlad the Impaler, Gilles de Rais, Ivan the terrible (look 'em up), we can easily say, "wow, I'm nothing like them, I'm a good person". But imagine none of these men getting any punishment whatsoever, would not our hearts cry out injustice? That very thing happened to us on Golgotha, for we were forgiven something we just as strongly did not deserve. I really feel this is key to helping us see ourselves as no better or worse than any other person; if we stop viewing crime, murder, etc. as wrongs against man, but against God, we will be much more apt to show the forgiveness and love that God desires. When we hear about a child being murdered, we cringe in disgust that someone could defame such innocence; by the same token, Christ was crucified. He was blameless, spotless; a lamb. All innocence died that day, and was resurrected and manifested in our hearts, should we choose to believe.