7 Words: Truly, Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise

The Second Word:
“Very Truly, today you will be with me in paradise.”
(Luke 23:43)

We are part of a culture who says one thing but does something else. Zambia is a Christian nation, but daily, we all see corruption, abuse of power, abuse of women and children, misuse of money, stealing, lying, and all sorts of other sinful behavior. Our politicians promise us heaven but don’t deliver. People attend church, or at least claim allegiance to a church, but their lives do not demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit.

We are just like the people to whom Isaiah prophesied when he said, The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” (Isaiah 29:13)

As Jesus hung on the cross, he was mocked by the religious leaders and the soldiers. He hung between two criminals, and one of them, even while being crucified himself, also mocked Jesus. The Bible tells us that one of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39)

He was not really asking Jesus to save him. He was mocking Jesus and his supposed inability to save anyone. After all, his very name, Jesus, means “God saves.”

The other criminal responded differently. Scripture tells us that the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:40-41)

He recognized that it was his own crime that had put him there. He was guilty, and the punishment of his crime was death, so he was getting what his deeds deserve. Romans 6:23 gives it to us plainly. For the wages of sin is death…

His death was the just punishment for his sin. He knew it and accepted it. But he also recognized that Jesus’ punishment was unjust. He had done nothing wrong. He had never sinned. Yet he was there on the cross, dying anyway. And in a last moment of deep faith, he said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)

And Jesus responded with today’s word. Luke 23:43: Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Every day we are faced with the choice of how to respond to Jesus. We have sinned – Romans 3:23 reminds us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – and the fair pay for our sin is death. God made this clear in the Garden of Eden. But even as we recognize that we have all sinned, we have a choice of how we respond. We can lash out, mocking God, daring God to punish us. Now, some of us don’t do this blatantly. We wouldn’t think of it. But in our actions, we are no better than the first criminal on the cross. We have been in church enough to know what God requires of us, yet our behavior doesn’t look any different from the world, from people who don’t even know Jesus. We are greedy. We are self-serving. We are hard-hearted and callous. In John 14:15, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” It’s pretty clear that some of us, by our actions, demonstrate that we don’t love Jesus.

The big question, then, is have you put your trust in Jesus? Have you staked your life on him? Have you gotten to the point where you have asked him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”? Do you have the assurance that when your time comes, you, too, will be with him in paradise? There are some people who answer this “yes” because at one point they made a decision for him, but they live every day as though they want nothing to do with him. If you want to be with him in paradise, if you want to see him in heaven, live with him every day here on earth! Make him not only your Savior, but your Lord as well.