These criminals represent us. One of them recognized Jesus for who he was and received him; Jesus promised that when he died he would be in heaven with him. The other man rejected Jesus and closed his heart. Unlike the first criminal, when he died he didn't go to heaven. He went to hell. In that sense, these two men on either side of Jesus are just like every person. We either embrace Christ as our Savior and spend eternity with him, or we reject him and say, 'I don't believe it. I'll have nothing to do with.' And these people spend eternity separated from him.

While you can't keep fear from visiting, you can slam the door in its face. With God's promise in your hand, that's exactly what you are able to do.

By your grace, I will not despair. I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

God looked through eternity past and He saw you and He chose to reach out and redeem you by His own grace. It's hard to imagine that kind of love.

Take a deep breath and take this to heart; God has nothing to do with broken promises. When He says, I promise, mark it down it's going to happen.

Ed Welch says that all counseling is a variation on a single theme: knowing and praying for the counselee. Of all the questions the counselor might ask, then, the central guiding question in the counselor's mind is, "How can I pray for you?

God owns the truth. The issue is our ability to derive truth apart from God's sufficient Word.