"Today you will be with me in paradise."
Simple Prayer: Deepen my understanding of your grace.
Read for Context (What does it say? Read 3x): Luke 23:39-43
Read for Insight (What does it mean?)
His Relentless Love: As Jesus hung on that cross, his physical pain was punctuated by verbal barbs and abuse. Many in the crowd, the hardhearted leaders who had manipulated his execution, the soldiers who did the dirty work, hurled insults and verbal darts that mingled together in absolute cacophony. Yet, just to his side. a voice. A voice marked by humility and longing.
The voice came from a hardened criminal receiving his reckoning. He was guilty and he knew it. Yet, in Jesus, he witnessed grace. In a last-ditch effort for absolution, he asked if he could follow Jesus into death.
As the felon spoke, perhaps Jesus heard the words of the psalmist. "A broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise!" Jesus. then, would not refuse him. Today. With Me. Paradise.
This is the taste of grace - the fruit of relentless love.
Our Response: "Jesus, right here, right now" is the motto of relentless love and out of which grace flows. This is the promise of Emmanuel. Our privilege is to walk around in this grace, knowing Jesus is at work all around us. The invitation for us is the same as the invitation for the thief. Jesus says to you, "Right now. With me. I got this."
Read for Application (How should I respond?)
Say/write a short prayer of commitment.  In a journal or in the comments below.
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