Truly

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. ” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43 NIV

It seems to me that these two are the choice of humanity manifested in two broken sin filled men. 

One chooses to walk away from God.  

One choses to repent and surrender to Jesus Christ. 

During Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, there were two other men suffering the same death, one to either side of Him. The one to Christ’s right has become known as the “Good Thief,” while the one to His left is referred to as the “Unrepentant Thief.” 

While both men were suffering the same gruesome execution and were both in the presence of Christ, their reactions to their situation are quite different.

The unrepentant thief rejects Our Lord and demands from Jesus, “save yourself and us”.   

But the good thief does not ask to be taken down. Instead he rebukes the other and proclaims Christ’s innocence, and in one of the most startling and beautiful moments of the Gospel, does not ask to be taken down from his sure and painful death. 

He asks, instead, to be taken up with Christ, asking “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

Jesus replies to the repenting thief saying, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”  

Hallelujah! Tell God that you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Tell jesus you love Him! He will welcome you.  It is your choice to declare openly that He is your Savior.  

This is the lesson of those with Jesus and the one, who accepted his cross, and placed his hope not in this world, but in the promise of the eternity in God’s kingdom. It is the story of a man who was saved in the eleventh hour. He was saved within a matter of minutes before dying.

Thank God, because as long as there is life there is hope! As long as a man can repent he can be saved, and a man can be saved even while he is taking his last breath.