April 16 – The Dying Thief – Luke 23:26-43
There was a thief on either side of Jesus when He was crucified. Both thieves had gone through the same torture of carrying his own cross as Jesus had done. They were both nailed upon their own cross just as Jesus was. They both saw the treatment the soldiers gave Christ. They both heard the crowd mocking Jesus. They both heard Jesus asking God the Father to forgive the soldiers and people. One thief chose to reject the fact that Jesus was indeed God in the flesh, and chose to follow the crowd as they mocked Jesus. The other thief chose to believe Jesus. He knew he deserved everything he got and was repentant of his sins.
There are two things we can learn and apply from this dying thief. First, he spoke out on Jesus’ behalf to his fellow man. He was bold and to the point. He pointed out to the other thief his lack of fearing God. The second thing we learn is that the thief asked Jesus to remember him. He desired to know Jesus personally and wanted Jesus to know him personally. We see here the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus. He was not satisfied with knowing all about Jesus, he wanted Jesus to know and remember him. Sometimes we find ourselves learning about Jesus, and neglecting allowing Jesus into our most secretive place in our heart. I know Jesus know everything. I also know that it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking we can hide things from the Lord instead of inviting Him into every area of our lives. Jesus loved this thief inspite of his faults. I can assure you that Jesus loves you inspite of any faults you have.
