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Word of God Speak
LK 23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
LK 23:40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
LK 23:42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. "
LK 23:43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
The Scriptures never say what their crimes are.....but this one humbled himself before God. and was accepted.
This is by Max Lucado.
Our God is a Good God
God is a good God. We must begin here. Though we don't understand his actions, we can trust his heart.
God does only what is good. But how can death be good? some mourners don't ask this question. When the quantity of years has outstripped the quality of years, we don't ask how death can be good.
But the father of a dead teenager does. The thirty-year-old widow does. How could death be good?
Part of the answer may be found in Isaiah 57:1-2 "Good people are taken away from evil and are given peace. Those who live as God wants finds rest in death."
Death is God's way of taking people away from evil. from what kind of evil? An extended disease? An addiction? A dark season of rebellion? We don't know. But we know that no person lives one day more or less than God intends. "All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old (Psalms 139:16 ).
But her days were so few........
His life was so brief...........
To us it seems that way. We speak of short life, but compared to eternity who has a long one? A person's days on Earth may appear as a drop in the ocean. Yours and mine may seem like a thimbleful but compared to the Pacific of eternity, even the years of Methuselah filled no more than a glass. James was just not speaking to the young when he said, "Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away" (James 4:14).
In God's plan every life is long enough and every death is timely. And though you and I might wish for a longer life. God knows better. And--this is important--though you and I may wish for a longer life for our loved ones, they don't. Ironically, the first one to accept God's decision of death is the one who dies.
While we are shaking our heads in disbelief, they are lifting hands in worship. While we are mourning at a grave, they are marveling at heaven. While we are questioning God, they are praising God.
But what of those who die with no faith? My Husband never prayed. My grandpa never worshiped. My mother never opened a Bible, much less her heart. What about those who never believed?
How do we know he didn't?
Who among us is privy to a person's final thoughts? Who among us knows what transpires in those final moments? Are you sure no prayer was offered? Eternity can bend the proudest knees. Could a person stare into the yawning canyon of death without whispering a plea for mercy? And could our God, who is partial to the humble resist it?
He couldn't on Calvary. The confession of the thief on the cross was both a first and final one. but Christ heard it. Christ received it. Maybe you never heard your loved one confess Christ, but who's to say Christ didn't?
We don't know the final thoughts of a dying soul, but we know this. We know our God is a good God. He is "not willing that any should parish but all come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). He wants your loved one in heaven more than you do. And he usually gets what he wants..
LK 23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
LK 23:40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
LK 23:42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. "
LK 23:43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
The Scriptures never say what their crimes are.....but this one humbled himself before God. and was accepted.
This is by Max Lucado.
Our God is a Good God
God is a good God. We must begin here. Though we don't understand his actions, we can trust his heart.
God does only what is good. But how can death be good? some mourners don't ask this question. When the quantity of years has outstripped the quality of years, we don't ask how death can be good.
But the father of a dead teenager does. The thirty-year-old widow does. How could death be good?
Part of the answer may be found in Isaiah 57:1-2 "Good people are taken away from evil and are given peace. Those who live as God wants finds rest in death."
Death is God's way of taking people away from evil. from what kind of evil? An extended disease? An addiction? A dark season of rebellion? We don't know. But we know that no person lives one day more or less than God intends. "All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old (Psalms 139:16 ).
But her days were so few........
His life was so brief...........
To us it seems that way. We speak of short life, but compared to eternity who has a long one? A person's days on Earth may appear as a drop in the ocean. Yours and mine may seem like a thimbleful but compared to the Pacific of eternity, even the years of Methuselah filled no more than a glass. James was just not speaking to the young when he said, "Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away" (James 4:14).
In God's plan every life is long enough and every death is timely. And though you and I might wish for a longer life. God knows better. And--this is important--though you and I may wish for a longer life for our loved ones, they don't. Ironically, the first one to accept God's decision of death is the one who dies.
While we are shaking our heads in disbelief, they are lifting hands in worship. While we are mourning at a grave, they are marveling at heaven. While we are questioning God, they are praising God.
But what of those who die with no faith? My Husband never prayed. My grandpa never worshiped. My mother never opened a Bible, much less her heart. What about those who never believed?
How do we know he didn't?
Who among us is privy to a person's final thoughts? Who among us knows what transpires in those final moments? Are you sure no prayer was offered? Eternity can bend the proudest knees. Could a person stare into the yawning canyon of death without whispering a plea for mercy? And could our God, who is partial to the humble resist it?
He couldn't on Calvary. The confession of the thief on the cross was both a first and final one. but Christ heard it. Christ received it. Maybe you never heard your loved one confess Christ, but who's to say Christ didn't?
We don't know the final thoughts of a dying soul, but we know this. We know our God is a good God. He is "not willing that any should parish but all come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). He wants your loved one in heaven more than you do. And he usually gets what he wants..
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