When Simon Peter saw the awesome power of Jesus displayed, his response was the same one that Adam's and Eve's were. He said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8)
Two things are on my mind; the first is this: Simon Peter was a Jewish man. This means that he was immersed in and surrounded by Godly living; he studied The Law, the government was run by religious rulers, the laws of the land were The Torah and rules made from it, and all the people lived according to those rules and laws.
I read of no evidence of Simon Peter being a horrible sinner. In fact, according to the accounts of him found in The Bible, he seemed to be an average Joe, someone who had a good peer group and fit in well with them.
Yet when presented with the power of Jesus to change things, which could only come from God Himself, Simon Peter was afraid because of his sin.
That leaves me concerned about the sinfulness of my own life lived here in America; a culture based in rebellion against authority, and caught up in "rights, privileges, and entitlements" as an "American Citizen" and the blurring of the line between them all. Americans are really good at self-serving behaviors, and not very good at "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done." If Simon Peter, in an environment that fostered right behavior couldn't get it right, where does that leave me as a participating American? How much "sin" do I chalk up to simply "living the American Dream?"
Anyway, that aside, let's get to the main point:
Simon Peter was overwhelmed at his unrighteousness come face to face with Righteousness, and his response was horror and fear.
But notice Jesus response in verse 10, "Don't be afraid..."
Wow. Jesus, faced with our messy, polluted lives... and our horrified response to it says, "Don't be afraid." And then he goes on to make new plans for our lives; plans that include Him in them! "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." What a story for our lives!
Later, Jesus comes across a man with leprosy. The man fell face down and begged Jesus, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." (emphasis mine)
And Jesus responded simply, "I am willing."
I sometimes wonder how Jesus can be willing to take on and tackle the constant clean-out of sewage in my soul. "I am willing."
Lord, when are you not willing?
We see one place where Jesus gets really steamed, and that is at people who put up rules and barriers that prevent people from finding Him; the Religious Ones, the doctrine makers. Be careful of doctrine makers and doctrine quoters.
But the sinners who humbly acknowledge their sin; to us, he says, "Don't be afraid." and "I am willing."
What an awesome God of Love we serve.
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The Perfect Garden
I've had a lot happen this past month...and I've had a lot of huge and constant blessings from God...and I've thought a lot about life, and death, and God...and His creation. This may take several entries to get through, but here goes ~ Installment #1 ~ In the Beginning...
I've been told by more than one suffering person, "If there were a God, He wouldn't allow suffering such as..." and they fill in the blank with the horrors being experienced by them or a loved one. And I have no doubt about the horrors! There are horrors going on around this globe called earth by the gazillions on a constant basis. Horrors that are too horrible to even contemplate. And these horrors affect good people. And they make good people sometimes do and say horrible things! And then there are horrors of a "smaller" nature, like love dying. Like my co-worker's mother dying suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. Like the grief experienced by the lady who rides my bus every night and never fails to give me a sweet smile but who just miscarried her 9 week baby. Horrors like the pain of my dog dying last month from another horror called "cancer."
Death is horrible!
And we tend to lay it at God's door and blame Him.
Or deny Him.
Because of the pain.
"Where's the 'love' in pain," we ask?
Stuff like that used to make me wonder about this God who defines Himself as "Love." I don't wonder about it anymore. I prayed for insight on this subject, and if I may, here's the thought path that my loving heavenly Father led me down.
When God made the heavens and the earth, and the oceans and the sky, and everything in them, on them, above them and below them, He did it for only one purpose, that of nurturing us humans. He didn't make it for Himself, He made it for us.
Kind of like we do with our spaces. We go to great lengths to create beautiful backyards, or the perfect decor in our home. We agonize for weeks over what color to paint the walls of the living room, and will it go well with the furniture we've picked. And we don't do that so much for us, as we do it for "them." The "thems" that we will invite to share our lives. We wait anxiously for that moment when someone from our beloved group will enter our back yard and go, "Wow!" We hold our breath hoping for that gasp of delight as they enter the door of our home. We day-dream of the moments we will spend there with family or friends, sipping tea and chatting, eating Thanksgiving dinner, opening Christmas presents or blowing out birthday candles. We decorate for love.
God did to. He created a perfect universe, and then a perfect world, and then a most perfect garden, holding His breath in hopes of our gasp of delight. He wanted to make it perfect...and He did. He made it so perfect that there was no death or decay, no shed blood, no cellular degeneration. Do you know what that means? It means that nothing would ever die. The animals wouldn't die or get cancer, the people wouldn't hate and fight and kill, the animals wouldn't eat each other, the flowers wouldn't fade and die, the grass and leaves would endure forever because of, and through His infinite love. There was no death! Think about that for a moment. No death!
And then think about this absolute perfection. At each stage of His creation, He stepped back and surveyed His handiwork, and He pronounced it "Good!" Mind you, He wasn't gaging His success by our standards, but by His, which are infinitely more exacting than ours. Six times He stood back, surveyed what His hands had wrought and said, "It is good!" In fact, let's call it perfect.
And He made it just to share with us; so He could come walk with us in the cool of the evening and look at the fun things we had done with His garden. "Look, Father...I decided to move the honeysuckle vine over here where that spot of sunshine comes in while You are here, so it perfumes the area where we sit. Do you like it?"
Perfection.
Just for us.
Love.
I've been told by more than one suffering person, "If there were a God, He wouldn't allow suffering such as..." and they fill in the blank with the horrors being experienced by them or a loved one. And I have no doubt about the horrors! There are horrors going on around this globe called earth by the gazillions on a constant basis. Horrors that are too horrible to even contemplate. And these horrors affect good people. And they make good people sometimes do and say horrible things! And then there are horrors of a "smaller" nature, like love dying. Like my co-worker's mother dying suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. Like the grief experienced by the lady who rides my bus every night and never fails to give me a sweet smile but who just miscarried her 9 week baby. Horrors like the pain of my dog dying last month from another horror called "cancer."
Death is horrible!
And we tend to lay it at God's door and blame Him.
Or deny Him.
Because of the pain.
"Where's the 'love' in pain," we ask?
Stuff like that used to make me wonder about this God who defines Himself as "Love." I don't wonder about it anymore. I prayed for insight on this subject, and if I may, here's the thought path that my loving heavenly Father led me down.
When God made the heavens and the earth, and the oceans and the sky, and everything in them, on them, above them and below them, He did it for only one purpose, that of nurturing us humans. He didn't make it for Himself, He made it for us.
Kind of like we do with our spaces. We go to great lengths to create beautiful backyards, or the perfect decor in our home. We agonize for weeks over what color to paint the walls of the living room, and will it go well with the furniture we've picked. And we don't do that so much for us, as we do it for "them." The "thems" that we will invite to share our lives. We wait anxiously for that moment when someone from our beloved group will enter our back yard and go, "Wow!" We hold our breath hoping for that gasp of delight as they enter the door of our home. We day-dream of the moments we will spend there with family or friends, sipping tea and chatting, eating Thanksgiving dinner, opening Christmas presents or blowing out birthday candles. We decorate for love.
God did to. He created a perfect universe, and then a perfect world, and then a most perfect garden, holding His breath in hopes of our gasp of delight. He wanted to make it perfect...and He did. He made it so perfect that there was no death or decay, no shed blood, no cellular degeneration. Do you know what that means? It means that nothing would ever die. The animals wouldn't die or get cancer, the people wouldn't hate and fight and kill, the animals wouldn't eat each other, the flowers wouldn't fade and die, the grass and leaves would endure forever because of, and through His infinite love. There was no death! Think about that for a moment. No death!
And then think about this absolute perfection. At each stage of His creation, He stepped back and surveyed His handiwork, and He pronounced it "Good!" Mind you, He wasn't gaging His success by our standards, but by His, which are infinitely more exacting than ours. Six times He stood back, surveyed what His hands had wrought and said, "It is good!" In fact, let's call it perfect.
And He made it just to share with us; so He could come walk with us in the cool of the evening and look at the fun things we had done with His garden. "Look, Father...I decided to move the honeysuckle vine over here where that spot of sunshine comes in while You are here, so it perfumes the area where we sit. Do you like it?"
Perfection.
Just for us.
Love.
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