My Sin and God's Holiness
November 1, 2012    

“¹ One day  . .  Jesus  . . . said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." ⁵ Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." ⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break . . . . When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken . . .  . Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men.""   Luke 5:1-11 (NIV)

         Why did Peter ask Jesus to go away?  Why didn’t he try to hire Jesus?  
               With that catch of fish another person would have been seeing dollar signs!

At that moment Peter experienced something that I think every Christian must experience at some point in their life with Jesus.  Peter saw his smallness, his sinfulness, his unworthiness.   He saw himself in contrast to God in Jesus Christ.

Have you ever had some version of this experience?    You see yourself as you are and it’s not pretty.    You see God as he is, as Holy and before Whom none can stand.   But then you experience the shock that you are loved, forgiven, accepted and chosen anyway.    And it’s overwhelming, perhaps to the point of tears.    In this experience lies the power of God.   If any of these three experiences are missing  (God’s holiness, your sin, and God’s love of anyway) ask God for them.   The Christian Life  is not just incomplete without all three, it is impossible. 

“Lord, Help me to see myself as I am, You as You are, and then, dare I ask it, that you clothe me with the Grace of undeserved love.   Amen”