Key Bible Verse: He personally carried away our sins in his own body on the cross. … You have been healed by his wounds! (1 Peter 2:24). Bonus Reading: Isaiah 53:3-6

On May 21, 1946, in Los Alamos, Louis Slotin prepared for a crucial atomic test to be conducted in the South Pacific. The young scientist needed to verify the critical mass—the amount of U-235—necessary to trigger a chain reaction. He'd conducted the experiment before, pushing two hemispheres of uranium together then, just as the mass became critical, pushing them apart with a screwdriver. But this time, just as the material became critical, his screwdriver slipped! The hemispheres came too close, and the room filled with a bluish haze.

Disregarding his own safety, Slotin tore the two hemispheres apart with his bare hands, interrupting the chain reaction. His intervention saved the lives of the seven others in the room. While waiting to be taken to the hospital, Slotin calmly told a colleague, "You'll come through all right. But I haven't the faintest chance myself." Nine days later he died in agony.

Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ took upon himself sin's "critical mass" and endured an agonizing death. By this act He broke the chain reaction of sin's power in our lives. Our identity has been changed—God no longer sees us as sinners, but as saints.

—Bill Bright in The Joy of Total Forgiveness

My Response: How do I respond to Someone who died to save me?

Thought to Apply: The death He died was our death, the penalty our sins had richly deserved.—JOHN STOTT (British pastor & Christian spokesman)

Adapted from The Joy of Total Forgiveness (Victor, 2005) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Thank you, Father, that You accepted the Son's sacrifice as payment in full for all our sins.

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