The Repentant Thief

“ One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”  But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”   And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” – Luke 23:32

According to some, this thief lived in the dessert and was a murderer, as well as his thief. Some say he had actually met Jesus when Jesus was but a child. He was often referred to by many as the “repentant thief”.

When we think of him, we remember how repentant he was and how he asked Jesus “to remember me when you came into your kingdom”

These verses are so important for so many reasons. But there are two that are especially important. It didn’t matter how badly the “thief” had behaved, Jesus clearly forgave him. And took him to Heaven. The second is, we have until our last breath to seek Jesus’ forgiveness, repent and ask Him to be our Savior.

For many who have lived their whole lives in service to God, this can seem unfair. But God is always fair :). There has to be a finish line somewhere. Our lives on earth are it. We have our whole lives on earth to accept Jesus as our Savior. But that’s it. If we don’t, the penalty lasts an eternity.

And for those who are thinking right now, “Oh, I have plenty of time”. The truth is we are only guaranteed this one moment! The moment we are living right now, so waiting is not a good option!

We need to ask Jesus to be our Savior today!