“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying,
“If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering,
rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under
the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward
of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong” » (Luke 23:39-41).
HOW MANY WRONG DECISIONS does a person have to make to be lost? And how many right decisions to be saved? The story of the repentant thief helps us answer that question.
According to The Desire of Ages, the man was not entirely unaware of the Saviors work. In fact, “He had seen and heard Jesus, and had been convicted by His teaching, but he had been turned away from Him by the priests and rulers. Seeking to stifle conviction, he had plunged deeper and deeper into sin, until he was arrested, tried as a criminal, and condemned to die on the cross.»—ch. 78, p. 749.
We do not know exactly what crimes he committed, but it is reasonable to think that his incursion into the lower world was gradual. That is how it usually happens. One small transgression follows another, and another . … until sin “stifles the conviction” the Lord’s teachings had once made in our hearts. In the end, “the long arm of the law” caught him, and he was now rightfully paying for his bad decisions.
However, he did not imagine that not everything was lost for him. He did not imagine that he would be crucified next to Him who, through His words, had once touched his heart. Nor did he imagine that those impressions had not died. That they had merely been silenced.
When the other criminal insulted Jesus, he defended Him.
“Do you not fear God?” he asks.
A convicted criminal appealing to the fear of God! But he was not finished yet. “You and 1 deserve this punishment,” he adds, “but He is innocent!”
Who can speak of Jesus with these words if the Holy Spirit is not working in their hearts? “In Jesus, bruised, mocked, and hanging upon the cross,” says The Desire of Ages, “he sees the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.”—Ibid.
And he said to Jesus, “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” How interesting! While others made fun of Jesus, he called Him “King!”
How many bad decisions did the repentant thief make in his life? Probably many. How many right decisions? At least one. But what a decision!
It does not matter how full of mistakes your past may be, there is one decision you can still make: to accept Jesus as your King and Savior. lt is never too late to open the door of your heart to Him!
Dear Jesus, I don’t want to wait until the last minute of my life to seek You. In this very instant, I accept You as my King and Savior.
#AdultsDevotional
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate
