Every Morning — September 25, 2026: Paradise, Promised With No Time Left
It's never too late to be found, even in your very last hour.
Key Scripture
Luke 23:39–40, 42–43 (WEB)
"One of the criminals who was hanged railed at him… But the other answered, and rebuking him said, 'Don't you even fear God?'… He said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.' Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.'"
Devotional
Two criminals, both being executed for crimes serious enough to earn them a Roman cross, both hanging within arm's reach of Jesus, both facing the exact same number of hours left to live. One spends his final moments mocking. The other, somehow, in the middle of unbearable pain, has a moment of clarity nobody around him is having: this man beside me isn't a criminal. This man is a King.
There's no time for this thief to fix his life. No opportunity for good works, church attendance, restitution, or a changed lifestyle to prove his sincerity. He can't even get down off the cross to demonstrate anything. All he has left is a sentence: "Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom."
And Jesus doesn't hesitate, doesn't add conditions, doesn't say "we'll discuss this once you've shown genuine change." He simply answers: "Today you will be with me in Paradise."
Today. Not eventually, not after some probationary period in the afterlife, not once his sins had been sufficiently reviewed. Today.
I think this story exists partly to shut down one of the most persistent lies people believe about salvation — that you need to have your life together first, that you need enough good deeds stacked up, or enough years of faithful living, before God will actually receive you. The thief on the cross had none of that. He had regret, honesty, and a right assessment of who Jesus was, expressed in a single dying sentence.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith… not of works, that no one would boast" (Ephesians 2:8–9). This story is that verse in narrative form.
Maybe you've believed, somewhere along the way, that you've disqualified yourself too thoroughly, too late, too far gone for God to still want you. Maybe you're carrying the quiet fear that your life has too much wreckage for grace to actually reach you at this point. This thief's story exists specifically for people who feel that way.
He didn't get time to become a better man. He simply turned his face toward Jesus in his very last hour, and that was enough.
Whatever hour you think you're in — however late, however wasted, however close to what feels like the end — turning toward Jesus is never too late to matter.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that Your grace doesn't require me to earn my way to You first. Wherever I feel disqualified or too far gone, meet me there the way You met the thief on the cross. Today, I turn my face toward You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Dig Deeper
Luke 23:32–43
Ephesians 2:8–9
Romans 10:9–13
2 Corinthians 5:17
Reading Plan
Today's Reading
Luke 23
Ephesians 2
Romans 10
Today's Thought
You don't need time to clean up. You just need to turn your face toward Him.
From Every Morning — September 2026 by Margaret Nwakaego Usio.