“But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”” Luke 5:8
This is one of my favorite stories in the Gospel. The calling of Peter. Probably because I can relate so well.
I was a struggling, doubting and sinful man – still am. I knew of Jesus and God from my upbringing in a Catholic home. But, I never knew Jesus. I struggled my whole life to “catch my fill” of life, always to pull in empty nets.
He had spent 35 years trying to get through to me, but I wasn’t listening. He saved me from very wrong paths and huge sins that may have been irredeemable. But, I wasn’t seeing Him. Then, He introduced me to my wife, the woman He created to be my soulmate and more importantly, to open my eyes. I noticed Jesus pretty quickly but it truly took a couple more years to truly see Him. Through a series of events Jesus had been orchestrating over the period of several years, I came to a point of fearful desolation. He exposed before me the level of my sinfulness and that my destination at that moment was hell. That experience broke my spirit – in a good way. It led me one night, to drop to my knees, begging God’s mercy in spite of all my sins and how totally deserving of hell I was. Jesus responded, but not in the manner I would have expected.
Jesus said to me, “Come and follow Me.”
That night, I came to Jesus as a broken man. I came, a man full of decades of sin. Wretched and sinful, I could only kneel before God and beg Him to save me. I fully expected His response to be one of scorn. But, Jesus responded not with a “no way” or even a “you’re forgiven”. He simply looked down at me and said, “come and follow Me.”
I’ve often thought of this response. Did He forgive me? Over the period of time, through the eyes of Divine Mercy, I saw this response to be one of total forgiveness. But, even beyond forgiveness, this was a reply of forgetfulness. His reply that night was beyond forgiveness. He invited me to be His disciple and later apostle because Jesus having seen all I had done, had already forgiven me.
His response was one of action. Move on from who you once were and become My follower. Hidden in His voice were the words, “I do accept; you are in My Heart.”
“she told me, after a short conversation, to go to the Lord of the house and ask whether He would accept me. I understood at once that I was to ask this of the Lord Jesus. With great joy, I went to the chapel and asked Jesus: “Lord of this house, do You accept me? This is how one of these sisters told me to put the question to You.” Immediately I heard this voice: “I do accept; you are in My Heart.”” Divine Mercy in my soul # 14
Reflect upon three things today: 1) Do you seek Jesus wholeheartedly? 2) Have you asked Jesus to accept your life without reserve by your total surrender? 3) Have you allowed yourself to hear Jesus say to you that He loves and accepts you? Follow these simple steps and let the Lord of Mercy take control of your life.