There is something Beautiful about hearing I assure you.

​"I assure you"....

Those are the most meaningful words in the bible to me. There are no exceptions. I get what I'm saying - in a book packed full of meaningful words, I choose those three words - I assure you?

Yes. I do. Every time.

The irony is not lost on me. Within the very darkest moments of the Christian story, I find the most beautiful words I believe I've ever heard spoken.

In the book of Luke, in chapter 23, we find Jesus hanging on a cross. On both sides of him are thieves being put to death just like him. Suddenly, the thief on Jesus' left, as sarcastic and lacking in remorse as a thief can be, begins mocking Jesus.

“So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

Before Jesus could say a word, the thief on the right looks over at his partner in crime, disbelief in his eyes and in his voice, and says, "Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”

Then he turns to Jesus and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

Jesus then responds to him with the most beautiful words I've ever heard, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

You may be wondering, Keith, why do you find those words so beautiful? Well, maybe it will help you to understand I've been a thief. I don't mean that symbolically or metaphorically. I mean - I've been a thief. I've stolen money from people close to me to support habits and hangups that nearly destroyed my life.

I have been the thief on the left - mocking Jesus: oh, Jesus, if you're so big and bad and Mr. Miracle Maker, wave your magic wand over these habits and compulsions in my life, habits that I am powerless over.

And Jesus was silent. He said nothing.

Then one day, a day as dark as a day can get, I became the thief on the right. I looked over at this Jesus on a cross, this Jesus dying in agony for the thief in me, my heart swelled full of a compassion it had never experienced before, and I said, please remember me.

And Jesus said, "I assure you."

He said, I assure you, that even though you continue to see yourself as a thief, I see you as a brother I'd die for.

He said, I assure you, as unloved as you can get to feeling, in my dying moments there's nothing I'd rather do than love you.

He said, I assure you, for as long as you've beaten yourself up over your life, I've been hanging on this cross forgiving it.

He said, I assure you, your path to destruction has taken a dramatic and promise-filled turn toward a life with me in paradise.

I understand the darkness that surrounds this day - this Good Friday. But it's in the darkness of this day, in the darkness of this life, I've found the life-altering light that pours out through the words, "I assure you."

I share this so you'll know - as an assurance - no matter how dark life gets, the words "I assure you" are out there for us all. Jesus fought for the last breaths of his life so that he could offer assurance to a thief on the cross.

Take it from a thief, there's something beautiful in that.