Month: April 2026 (Page 3 of 3)

I read what Pastor Jentezen Franklin had to say about the thief’s words that helped me understand more the depth of his simple prayer. Up to that time he had been mocking Jesus but something must have happened in his heart in his final moments as he knew he would soon die. The word remember in Hebrew means to restore what has been broken or to put back together what has been torn apart or separated. Franklin writes that the thief wasn’t asking Jesus to simply think about him when He got to heaven, he was really saying he was torn apart by sin and when you come in to your kingdom, put me back together and restore me. Jesus responded by saying, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.” Jesus was not only promising reconciliation but immediate paradise! What a change must have happened in this dying man’s heart!

It reminded me of a story told to me over coffee time at church a couple Sundays ago by a friend sitting next to me. She and a friend regularly go to a nursing home and sing for them and share Jesus. She had gotten to know a patient who was 102 years old over the course of her visits. This patient knows she hasn’t got a lot of time left and my friend asked her if she knew Jesus. She had never accepted Him but when asked by my friend if she would like to receive Him, she was ready and prayed the sinner’s prayer. Just like the thief on the cross she opened  her heart to Jesus and is now ready whenever she is called home to spend eternity with the Lord.

Isn’t it amazing and wonderful that the Lord hears our prayers and forgives us and restores us, no matter if it is our last breath. May we be faithful witnesses to show the way to all those the Lord brings across our path.

Cyrene was in what is now known as Libya in North Africa and about a thousand miles from Jerusalem. Simon was a long way from home, probably going to Jerusalem for Passover. Jesus didn’t have strength to carry his cross after his beatings and a soldier demanded Simon help and carry it. We don’t hear anything more of Simon in the Bible, so did he stay and see Jesus crucified? We don’t know, but it must have had an effect on him to carry the cross behind Jesus and see His suffering.

When we come to know the Lord, it says in Romans 6 that we have united with Him in His death and resurrection, and our old self gets crucified so we are no longer a slave to sin but alive to Christ. That means daily we die to self so we can live for Him. In a real sense, we all bear our own cross as we put Jesus first and ourselves last. Today, many are suffering persecution or have painful health issues as they bear the cross for Christ. I have friends who live in continual pain without complaint, even though they have gone to many doctors. I count them as bearing their cross for the Lord.

Let us practice Jesus’ words in Luke 3:24-25, “If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, carry his cross every day and keep close behind. For the man who wants to save his life will lose it, but the man who loses his life for my sake will save it.”