To the One Who Thinks God Can't Save Them
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there; If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light will become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139: 7-12, AMP)
I always find it silly when I’m talking about Jesus to someone and they say something along the lines of, “I can’t be a Christian. God doesn’t want me. I’m too far gone for all that.”
In theory, I can understand what they mean, and I can sympathize with the fact that someone thinks they are outside of God’s love for them or that they’ve done something to disqualify them from being a part of what God is doing. We might all feel like that at some time or another– caught up in our flesh and sin, knowing we have done wrong– and felt that there was no way Jesus could save us after knowing how despicable we are.
To feel that way is to not understand what Jesus did on the cross, and the full extent of that salvation extended.
Indeed, just like today’s key verse says, there is not a place we can go or hide where God’s Spirit cannot find us or reach us. Not even if we made our bed in the depths of the sea. Even in the darkest of places, where light cannot be found and hope is lost, we are not outside of God’s redemption for us. Why? Because Jesus is able to transcend the darkness that clouds our vision. Where I cannot see a way out, Jesus can. To Him, darkness is not the intimidating black mystery it is to me. As the Psalm says, the night still shines like day to Him.
When I think about how there is not a place we can go to escape God’s presence, I immediately think of the two thieves that hung on crosses of their own as Christ hung on His. One thief mocked Jesus saying, “Aren’t you the Messiah? You would save yourself and us if you were! Some Messiah!”
The other defended Jesus, saying, “ Don’t you fear God? We’re getting what we deserve. We don’t deserve mercy. This man is innocent and doesn’t deserve this death.” To which Jesus then turns to the penitent thief and tells him that He will see him in heaven that day.
To me, the penitent thief is a chief example of how there is no place and no one that is outside of God’s ability to save. This man, hanging on a cross, moments from death, facing what has to be the worst day of his life, still has the ability to be drawn by Christ. The sin of his sentence didn’t have anything to do with Jesus’ ability to save Him. The bottom line is, whether he was a thief, a rapist, a murderer, or anything else punishable by death, but still approached Jesus in the same way, the outcome would have been the same.
Did that thief acknowledge his sin? Yes. Did he think he should be excused from the cross? No. He says to the other thief that they both deserve this fate. The difference is that this thief was able to see Jesus for who He is and still glorify Him despite his sin, pain, and hopelessness.
Not only that, but think about Jesus’ pain, being in the same situation. Even still, He was mighty to save this man. Jesus wasn’t so preoccupied by His situation that He couldn’t give His attention to the penitent thief. I know when I’m in pain, it’s hard for me to worry about anything else but what I’m going through. Now just magnify that to a painful death sentence powerful enough to squeeze the life from you. An yet, the King of kings, hanging from a cross, in the middle of humiliation and bodily torment, was more than capable of seeing this man’s humble, repentant heart and save him from the darkness of hell.
Even on death’s doors. Even with just moments left. Even in the face of the worst thing you’ve ever done. Jesus can save.
Maybe you are the person that believes themselves too far gone. If you are, you need to know– beyond a shadow of a doubt– God can still save you. There is no sin too great to keep you from God’s salvation if you can turn from it and cling to the Savior, allowing Him to fling those sins as far as the east is from the west. God is mighty enough to save. If your heart is like that thief on the cross– repentant, humble, and in awe of who Jesus is– then know that God is calling you into His salvation, into relationship with Him. You are reachable, and God still loves you.
Maybe you used to be the person that believed themselves too far gone. Now, we know that Jesus is more sovereign than our sin. Now, we know that there is no way we could claw ourselves out of that sin. The only way to be separate from it is to put all your faith into the only One who can wash it all away. Continue to shine the truth of who Jesus is and what God can do into a world hopeless with darkness. You are the walking testimony that it can be done.
