IronGuys Law Enforcement Ministries
"WORDS OF WISDOM"
By Police Chaplains
"Relationship Over Rituals"
By
Doni Daudel
Chaplain, Beaumont (CA) Police Department
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
41 “And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43
Three men hanging on Crosses. The Man in the middle, Jesus, was beaten beyond recognition as a man for claiming to be the Messiah and God(Is 52:14NLT). The two men crucified with Him were most likely violent criminals. Jesus was being mocked and ridiculed by the religious leaders and those watching this horrific event. The criminals on each side of Jesus joined in. One of the criminals slowly had change of heart. He began rebuking the other criminal reminding him they deserved their punishment, but Jesus was innocent. The criminal looked at Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Jesus looked at him and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise”(Lk23:42-43).
This is a beautiful picture of repentance, mercy, grace and forgiveness rolled into one single event. Jesus and these two criminals are literally moments away from death and eternity. The one criminal continues his hateful rhetoric. The other experiences conviction and asks to be forgiven and remembered. Jesus forgives the criminal and promises him paradise. The relationship was instantly formed. Jesus did not tell the criminal to get off the Cross, take a bath, put on nice clothes, go join a church, say a bunch of repetitive prayers, get baptized and then we can talk about forgiveness. Jesus knew the criminals heart had been convicted, heard the words of a repentant sinner and forgave him.
This same promise is true today. 1John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness..” No religious hoops to jump through. No unbiblical or man-made rituals to perform. All we need to do is repent, confess and receive the mercy, grace, forgiveness and salvation that comes from Christ and His work on the Cross. It’s our “relationship with Him” that makes us right with God and this is all found in Gods Word. If you’ve ever been told you have to jump through religious hoops, it’s a lie. It’s a relationship with the Savior that matters.