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Exploring the Way

The Thief on the Cross and God’s Plan

Continuing to use the framework of the 3 circles, today we’ll look at the final circle: God’s plan. As stated in the video, Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life, died for our sin and brokenness, and rose again on the third day to prove He was stronger than sin and brokenness. This was God’s plan to create a way out of this world’s brokenness and back into God’s good design.

In the reading from Luke today, you see one of Jesus’ final conversations as He was dying. Jesus was living out the Father’s plan you have been studying as He was taken to the cross for our sin and brokenness. Even as Jesus was praying for them, many onlookers mocked Him during these painful moments. Instead of seeing God’s plan at work, they thought all of Jesus’ claims were collapsing. One thief who was dying alongside Jesus for his crimes joined the crowds in mocking Jesus. Another thief who believed Jesus was who He claimed to be begged Jesus not to forget him. Jesus’ response showed that what was happening on the cross was not a derailing of the Father’s plan but the fulfilment of it. Jesus said, “Today, you will join me in paradise.”

To be clear, the man dying beside Jesus was a broken person living in a broken world. He accepted his own guilt and his fate. But by asking Jesus to remember him he confessed what Paul writes in Romans 3:22, God makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. God’s plan to restore us to Him came to life when Jesus freed us from our sin through His sacrifice.

As you read the story of Jesus’ death, you are put in a similar position as the two thieves who hung alongside Jesus, each on their own cross. You will either see Jesus’ death as proof that He was lying or out of His mind and continue to deal with your own brokenness and its consequences alone. Or you will acknowledge that it was love that held Jesus on the cross. It was not His guilt or even the physical nails, but His great love for the Father through obedience and for us for our restoration. And you will ask Him to do this great work for you as seen in Romans 3:25: People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life by shedding His blood.

Which thief are you most like today? Just like in the story, Jesus is willing to restore anyone who believes back to the Father and His design.

Prayer:

If you’re intrigued by the story but are struggling to believe that Jesus would do this for you, consider reciting ancient words spoken directly to Jesus by someone whose desire to believe outpaced their ability to believe:

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Lord, help me to respond the way you want me to respond.