Luke 5
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Luke 5:8 NIV
When we fully understand who Jesus is and what He has done for us, our response should be similar to that of Simon Peter. We do not deserve the gift of forgiveness that Jesus suffered and died to give us. Truly believing this in our hearts will naturally lead us to a state of utter humility and gratitude. We are all born with a sin nature – every single person, with the exception of Jesus Himself. “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). None of us likes to admit this, as our pride is hurt by this truth. However, it is a fundamental concept in the Christian faith and is something that is necessary to understand and believe so that we can receive God’s forgiveness. Peter understood that He was not worthy to be around Jesus, and even asked Him to leave. But what Peter failed to grasp at this time was that because of the amazing love of Jesus, He will not abandon us! “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). He loves us, helps us, guides us, protects us, and forgives us even though He thoroughly knows our weaknesses, faults and sins. Our sin nature does not go away once we become believers in Jesus Christ, but it will certainly become much more obvious to us when we go astray. The more we mature as Christians, the more wisdom we attain and the more experience we have in identifying and battling against our sin nature. The apostle Paul gives us this advice: “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). The other important thing to remember is that no person is beyond the reach of Jesus. Once a person decides to accept God’s help, love, and forgiveness, the sin that has enslaved him/her for so long can be defeated. As theologian and pastor John Calvin said “For certainly, Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was to ruin.”