Who will you be?

"But 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." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Luke 23:40-42.

These are the words of one of the criminals that Jesus was crucified with.While one of the criminals "hurled insults at Him" (Luke 23:39), this criminal recognized two things that changed his story from one of impending death and separation from God  to a story of God-given redemption in his final hour.

1. He recognized that he was deserving of the punishment he was receiving. This criminal understood that a life full of mistakes and sin was deserving of a painful and agonizing death, and that while he was innocent, Jesus had nothing wrong and was undeserving of death.

2. He recognized the meaning of the sacrifice that Jesus was making. In verse 40, he says "Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom." This criminal, the lowest of the low by the world's standards, was one of the few that really saw the meaning  of that day. God softened his heart and showed him that his story of self-serving sin did not have to end in the same way. That day on his cross, he saw that he was suffering beside the Savior of the world.

A lot of times in our lives,we either don't make this realization or understand its meaning until its been years since we first heard of it, or some of us may have not even made that realization yet. Unfortunately, every single person in the human race is like one of the two criminals hanging next to Jesus on the cross. The only choice we have is which of those criminals we want to be. Romans 3:23 tells us "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Just like those two criminals, we have fallen short and we deserve death. We must choose between being bitter and rejecting God or being angry with Him, or we can allow Him to soften our hearts and realize the sacrifice that He made for  us. Jesus Christ cam to Earth, lived a sinless life and was undeserving of death. Yet, He chose to suffer and bleed for US. He chose to die for US. A lowly group of criminals who reject His love every day when we sin. We are far from perfect and far from being capable of understanding His love, yet He chooses to accept us as we  are and put aside our sin if we just accept His gift and enter into a true relationship with Him and sincerely say, "Jesus remember me when you enter into Your kingdom." And as verse 43 of Luke 23 tells us, He will always respond with open arms and say, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Jesus is waiting on your love, and its never too late in this life. You can be minutes from death and eternal separation from God, weighed down by a life of sin and shame, but He will lift that burden, take it upon His shoulders and welcome you into paradise with Him. All you need to do is genuinely accept Him. the debt has already been paid.