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So often the impression is given that our relationship with God is mainly about all the ways in which we need to change and that salvation is dependent upon self-improvement. Thankfully, God has provided a substitute for self-improvement. Rather than change, he offers an exchange: our sin, guilt, and death for his holiness, innocence, and life. This week, we see a seemingly impossible exchange. God takes something that is an object of shame and makes it a reason to boast. That object is a cross. Through Jesus’ deaths, the cross has become a symbol of our reconciliation with God. As we carry our crosses, we can be just as confident that God will use them to work amazing good.