Luke 23 : 39 – 43
As children when we hear stories from the Bible and as we grow, we read Bible and come across many characters and we have our own favourite character. Today I am inspired to speak about a character whose name is not mentioned. We do not know his name, where he comes from, how he lived, what he did. We only know him as criminal saved by Jesus Christ.
This passage shows us the picture of crucifixion of Christ and along with Him were two other criminals being crucified. The two thieves knew about Christ. We do not know how, either they heard Him speak or they came to know about Him from other people. But the first one says if you are Christ, that means he doubting Him, he is mocking Him and probably also testing if He is truly God. But the second one responds in a different way and gets saved by Jesus. I would like to share few things that the second thief did on the cross, in his calamity that saved him.
1. He feared God – he said to the first one, dnt you fear God. Fear of God is a root of many blessings and is an important aspect of a Christian life
2. He proclaimed Christ is God – he meant Christ is God when he said to the first one dnt you fear God
3. He confessed his wrongdoings and said he deserved the punishment he got
4. He proclaimed Jesus is righteous when he told the first one that He has done nothing to deserve this
5. He asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom – what a powerful and shortest prayer request it is
Yes my friends, he rebuked the the first one. Sometimes we come across people who mock our living God. We must not remain silent. Am not saying we should start a fight or an argument or be rude. Am jus saying to rebuke them gently and biblically. It’s just as we dnt remain silent if someone says something against our loved ones. If they receive they vl b blessed or if you find their hearts hardened just walk away from such people.
Now for these things that he did in his adversary, the second thief received blessings. I am done by sharing these things that he received.
1. He was about to die, but he received eternal life
2. He was on his way to hell, but he entered the Paradise
3. In his most difficult time, he encountered Jesus and received grace and forgiveness
Yes my friends, he was assured of his place in heaven l. What an amazing thing it is. Something he never might have imagined in life that happened to him in the dreadful situation that he was in. Look at his privilege my friends. Jesus in His agonising pain chose to speak to him as we see Him speak to the Heavenly Father, disciple John and His mother Mary. He not just witnessed the redemption of the world on the Cross but also believed in the Redeemer.
Many of us must be diving in the depth of our sins, thriving in ugly situations. Whatever the circumstances are just look for Christ and you will find Him. Dnt think anything, just come to Him as you are and He will take care of the rest. Amen.
– Naveena
Light of the world 