It was on that cross two thousand years ago that God’s love, mercy and grace met as God’s Son paid the penalty for our sins and offered us eternal life. Salvation is a gift from God that we can’t earn or merit. Like any gift, to take possession we must open it and put it to use. We do that by confessing that we need salvation, then believing in, and following Jesus into God’s presence. I opened my gift and have been putting it to use for the last 72 years.