1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Actor Edmund Gwenn was lying on his deathbed when somebody asked him if dying was hard.  “Dying is easy,” replied the old veteran, “Comedy is hard.”  Besides being a classy way for an old hand at the craft to go, it was insightful.  After all, we’re all going to die.  It requires no special talent.  But the essence of comedy is, after all, to look like a fool — and that’s hard.  Harder still is admitting one’s folly: an essential ingredient of repentance.  So hard is it, in fact, that we can’t do it without God’s help (whether we realize he is helping us or not).  And God has given the help.  He who had nothing to repent of went through all the struggles of self-denial and self-offering “even unto death, death on a cross” so that he would be able to give us the power to do what he has done.  Now, he shares that humanity—perfected in suffering—with us! Today, seek the help of Christ crucified to “die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”