What Happened on the Cross

Part 1: The Thief

Can people change? Not just in one area of their lives, like getting in shape, investing in their career, or changing their finances. Can people make a change so all-encompassing that it fundamentally takes them off one path and puts them on another, and they become a new person?

Jesus had a conversation on the cross that speaks to this question. There were two criminals with Jesus: one who taunted Jesus and the other who recognized that he deserved to be on the cross, but Jesus didn’t. In his last moments on this earth, this second criminal proclaimed Jesus’ true identity, professed faith in a coming kingdom, and asked Jesus to save him. Jesus immediately and compassionately responded, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43b

The Bible doesn’t teach that the world is filled with good people and bad people—it says there are just people. Every human is deeply flawed, broken somewhere along the way, and going their own way. Sin is like spiritual cancer – destroying you from the inside. The effects of sin are serious. We all have sinned and are on a train going in the wrong direction.

But you are not stuck on this train. You are not trapped, and it’s not too late. There is no hole too deep you can’t get out of or brokenness that God can’t heal. Your father in heaven sees you. He knows your name—he knew it before you were born—and he treasures you. His attention is fixed on you because he loves you and wants to be with you. Your life can change today.