Today, Thou Shalt be…”

Christian living 2 comments

“Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Be”, is a very powerful word which means, “To exist”.

The one to whom this statement was originally uttered already existed. He was born and he still lived, but just barely. Life, as he knew it would soon end and end tragically. At that moment in his life, the chickens had come home to roost. Like a lot of us, his bad deeds caught up with him and he was paying the price. Acknowledging that he deserved what he got revealed his willingness to live in truth about his actions, regardless of the outcome.

But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things will be added. (Matt. 6:33)

He is remorseful and asks to be remembered. “Truthful and remorseful”, described his current state of being. One other word that described his state and that word is, “weak” because life was slipping away.

They say that when we are weak, that’s when God is strong. It is true; and, man am I glad about that right now. Regardless of our condition, when we turn to Him, Jesus takes who we are and causes us to be. Hence, like a player in the outfield, Jesus caught this man’s weakened life that had been knocked into oblivion and he changes it from, dark to light, lost to saved, and from weak to strong.

Jesus wants to say the same thing to each of us that he said to that man who conversed Him during that very trying circumstance. He wants to say that, regardless of the circumstances that we are in, “Today, thou shalt be…”, but it is up to us. If we turn to Him, He will say it and we will be it. Maybe we won’t be in paradise. No one wants to hurry that up. However, we will be stronger, wiser and mostly, we will be in His will. It is very much like Him to take our weak existences and make us strong.

What will you be today?

2 comments

  1. I wish, I hope, I pray that one day we will all get the message that there are gifts that God has given us that we can see and those that we may not be able to see. Yes, God gave us life. He gave us salvation. He gave us time. He gave us his only son. But the gift that we all take for granted, as well as the others, is that “God gave me me”. It is up to us to be thankful and grateful for all that God has given us.

    To that end, we must do our very best to take care of what God has given us. If God gives me children then I am going to do my very best to do what it takes to take care of them. This means that I must take care of myself in order to provide for my children. This goes well beyond appearances. This goes way beyond eye candy. The legendary comedian Moms Mabley used to remind us that “What used to flip has flopped and once it flops, it will never flip again”. Yes, sometimes that which is on the inside fights to get to the outside.

    The point is that all of us need to pay attention to the real issues involving nourishment, whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual. I have seen one of my relatives at the hospital with her life on the line and her daughter literally sleeping in the hospital room with her to make sure that she was being taken care of. As soon as the daughter went to the restroom, the mom changed the menu to suit her taste and ordered food that she wasn’t supposed to have. I observed a former pastor’s wife doing the same thing.

    Lastly, we are seeing on the news everyday that some of the foods that we believed to be the best for us is an absolute farce. At the end of the day, it is important for all of us to do our best to seek wisdom and knowledge in the name of the Lord.

    Carrington R. Smith

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