Second Words

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

 Jesus’ second words on the cross were ‘today you will be with me in paradise’. Our Saviour’s first and second words on the cross were words of love. ‘I assure you…’, in other words you can be rest assured that salvation is yours the minute you ask for it. Jesus again saying not only forgiveness but salvation matters to Me. Jesus inspite of his pain still had enough love to minister on the cross. Saving souls is important to God and at different seasons in our lives, He will require that we minister on the cross. The reason why a lot of people are not doing what they are meant to do in God’s house is because of the excuse of personal problems. Jesus ignored the beating, the nails and even the effects of asphyxia and reached out to minister. Are you one of those waiting for that big promotion, fruitfulness, marriage, or solutions before you can serve in church? Jesus is saying you have to minister on the cross. Ministering on the cross is the guarantee for resurrection. There are always valid reasons not to serve God. However, I urge you to be conformed to the example of Christ Jesus and minister inspite of your situations. Are you going to allow the cross to define you or are you going to allow your call define you. Are you going to allow the cross to define your input or are you going to allow God’s plan for you to define your input. The choice is yours really. The second words were the words of salvation to the one who asked. Even though forgiveness is available, salvation is for those that ask. They both had equal opportunities, one secured eternity in heaven and the other didn’t. One was focused on the now and the other had his eyes on eternity. Where is your focus?

Prayer: Father, help me practice the same urgency you do when it comes to soul winning; not to lose any of the opportunities of ministering and serving that You bring my way.