Bullets for the Battle

The Bullet of Forgiveness: ENOUGH

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’

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.’

Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’" Luke 23:39-43

Notice first that the prayer was offered by one who was hanging on a cross with Jesus! He knew what the Lord was having to endure as no other could conceive. Christians talk much of the cross but I have seen few who really want to hang on it! (At this point I confess my own lack of Cross Discipleship and ask His help!) This “crucified partner” with Jesus knew His agony and identified with His position more than anyone else on earth. It was “their” hour! The other criminal also suffered terribly, as all humans do, but he drew no redemptive conclusion from the experience. Most Christians refuse to invest the time and diligence it takes to plumb the great wealth of cross theology. They drift in the shallows of “Churchianity” and bring no redemption precision to their daily life. Hence, they are woefully deficient in “Cross Discipleship.” They are too dense to seek and/or lose appreciation for the radiant distinctions of the wonder of the gospel! Only by incarnating the truth of our Lord’s “good news” will we be set free from our blind pursuit of the insignificant! “If the Son makes you free you shall be free indeed!” (John 8:36).

This “confessor criminal on the cross” didn’t know the theology of Jesus like the disciples or the wonder of His miracles like the women, but he saw the power, the force, the authority of Christ’s life and words. This wise thief, even in his own excruciating pain, saw how the Lord hung there and knew that somehow … beyond all his ignorance and confusion, beyond all his panic, hopelessness, failures and regrets … that Jesus was God! That Jesus was his only hope! And that was “enough.”

The other thief, the one enslaved to the lie, could do nothing but shout his bitterness to the world and throw accusations at Jesus. Many people still choose that response to life!

The Master’s promises are always enough for us regardless of our circumstances. In fact we are usually driven to our most earnest prayers by our worst circumstances. We all have them … those agony hits … even right now! Yet even our most hopeless circumstances mixed with the reality of Father, Forgiveness and Fools can be solved, resolved and overcome. It makes no difference how torturing the crucifying situation might be.

Admit you are basically a fool! Create a relationship with the Father! Learn the magnificence of forgiveness! To the degree you do, you will be with Him in a spiritual paradise … today! It is only while you hang that you truly “hear” Jesus talk to the Father about you! It is then that you are truly and purely prepared to talk to Jesus about you! Experiencing those two realities will make you enough for anything!

And remember … “Nothing is enough unless you are enough.” (Author unknown)