When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. – Colossians 2:13-15 (NIV)

There is a written code that is against us. It consists of every action and thought that we have done that has fallen short of our Christian intents. Yet the Bible states that Christ has forgiven all of our sins. The code that wants to rightly hold our failures over us has been taken away. The guilt and shame that wants to hold us captive has been disarmed. The triumph of the cross breaks the power of condemnation and as a result releases the power of transformation in our lives. This is the paradox and the power of the cross.