There they crucified Him, along with the criminals…. One of the criminals… hurled insults at Him…. But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly… this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
~ Luke 23:33, 39-43
As long as we live, there is hope for another chance at whatever we might have missed the first time around. The criminals on the crosses were out of chances; it was their very last opportunity to choose Jesus. Even there, on the cross, one criminal mocked the sacrifice Jesus made. But the other saw Jesus as He really was and asked Jesus to remember him.
Jesus responded to his humble request with a great promise. That day – that day! – he would be with Jesus in paradise. Not after three days when Jesus rose again, not after forty days when Jesus ascended into heaven, not after millennia when Jesus will return in glory.
The criminal who took his last chance was rewarded for the risk. Since the time of Moses, the choice for life has been offered: “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live…” (Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a) You still have the chance to choose. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Choose life today, secure in the knowledge that it will be full!
~ Cristel Churchill
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