The Thief

Luke 23:43

" I will tell you the truth, this day you will be with me in paradise"

Out of all the scriptures, these may be the most beautiful and most powerful for me.

     A convicted, confessed thief who did not know Christ and who had definitely not tried to live a holy life was told these words. This act and these words have been on my mind for the past few days. I constantly battle with the feeling that I am a failure as a Christian; that I am not doing all that I should. While I dont question that Jesus died for me and that I am saved, I still feel like a disappointment to Him.

I have beent trying to find perspective on how He could continue to love me with a life time of stumbling, failing, and disobedience. For many years I focused on the scripture saying "Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect".    Yeah----------that didnt work out too good. So what good am I to Him?

Then He has reminded me of this thief.

This thief who admitted his guilt, had never made an effort to walk with Christ. This thief did not cry out for absolution of his wrong doings. He didnt ask to be saved spiritually or physically.  While salvation is based upon repentence, the scripture does not even reflect that this thief openly repented. He never once said "forgive me".

Instead he says "Remember me when you come into your kingdom".  Maybe something has been lost in translation over the generations. Because to me this equals "Please think kindly of me after I am gone". He knew he was not worthy of anything more than the punishment he was recieving and only asked to be remembered. But he recognized WHO Jesus was and acknowled him as the "Son of God".  I feel that way many times. I want to ask Jesus to just remember that I wasnt all bad.

But Jesus did more than that.

"This day you will be with me in paradise"

If Jesus would make this promise and accept someone who had never made an effort to live for Him, how much more so will he accept His children. Regardless of how we feel about ourselves, he recognizes the heart that acknowledges Him. He recognizes the heart that yearns to bless Him.

All the thief did was acknowlege Him for who he was. So whenever I feel dirty, bruised, failed or useless, I will remember those words. For while I am no more worthy than the thief, I am no less accepted.