Luke 5:8
But when Simon Peter
saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, “Go away from me
Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
When a humble person is
confronted by God's holiness, he realizes that he is unworthy to be
in the presence of God. He becomes so ashamed of his sins, and
realizes that his sins have created a huge gap between him and God!
And so there's a part of him that wants to be near God, and there's
another part of him that realizes that as a sinner, he can't be near
God.
This
combination of brutal honesty about one's own unworthiness on the one
hand, and great reverence toward God on the other hand – this is
where every true believer starts. True faith begins with true
repentance and true repentance begins with a realistic understanding
of the vast difference between you and God. This is where we need to
start. But, as Peter's own story shows us, God does not want us to
stop at this point.
“Do
not fear,” Jesus said to Peter in verse
10.
Jesus planned to save Peter by paying the penalty for his sins on
Calvary.
Peter
may not have fully understood at the time what Jesus meant by “Do
not fear,” but eventually he did. After Christ's death and
resurrection, he appeared to Peter once again in John
chapter 21.
The situation was the same. Peter had been fishing all night and had
caught nothing. As he were returning, Jesus was standing on the
shore, and he told him to let down the nets again, and again, there
was a miraculous catch! Now, notice how Peter reacted this time.
Instead of recoiling from Jesus, he threw himself into the sea and
swam toward Jesus with all his might.
Why the difference?
Because Peter had realized that the best place for a sinner to be is
close to Jesus.
We
have a reason to be just as excited as Peter, if we know that Christ
is our
Savior from our
sins.
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