Complete Hope for the Completely Regrettable

S - Luke 23:41-43 (ISV): "We have been condemned justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he went on to plead, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus told him, I tell you with certainty, today you will be with me in Paradise."

O - A completely regrettable and forgettable life is asking the One who is life to be remembered by him; the guilty is asking for help from the guiltless; the powerless from the powerful and the response is immediate and complete.  Jesus will not offer this tragic human being self-help but help; his granted request will not end in a better person but a completely transformed one.  Much has been made about the place (i.e. Paradise) but the real beauty is found in the company this condemned criminal will gain.  Frankly, from his current locale on a cross anywhere other than hell itself would be a "better place."  Jesus isn't giving the relief of a change in venue but the remedy of a complete transformation.  We should all forget "better" and "better place" and remember that we're remembered … living near him and holding every life, even our own, in the hope of transformation.

A - There are so many times that I just want relief when Jesus is offering me remedy.  Today, the point for me should be/must be all about presence, about who I am with and who is with me rather than about where I am or the circumstances which currently surround me.  I do not want to settle for self-help but the help of transformation.  I am very glad that Jesus doesn't want a "better" me. He already has it in his heart and mind for a completely transformed me.  Today hope is mine because hope is a person and he is with me, for me and won't change his mind.

P - Lord who is near and working everything for a good,

Thank you for today and for wanting us near.  Thank you for more than relief … thank you for remedy here and hereafter.  I'm asking that I would do the work of believing so that all that you've got in mind to me and through me would be unhindered.  Thank you for allowing my choices and my faith to matter.  I'm asking that your life would flow into me and out of me unto the transformation you already have in mind. I am believing unto new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and that which is too wonderful for me.

Thanks for never forgetting,

Steve