Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
SUNDAY, February 7 5 Epiphany
EDITOR'S NOTE: 2010 marks the 75th anniversary of Forward Day by Day. To commemorate this milestone, the meditations from February 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011 feature reprints of the most outstanding meditations from our past 75 years. The year each meditation was originally written is included at the end of the meditation. To learn more about our anniversary and the selection process for these meditations, click here. We encourage you also to share your comments about these classic meditations below. Our editor, Richard Schmidt, will be responding to comments for these meditations.
Luke 5:1-11. Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!
When Isaiah had his vision of God, he felt an immediate sense of his own uncleanness. Peter, in the presence of Christ, became aware of his sinfulness. One of the effects of the holiness of God is to cause us to see our sin and our own unworthiness in stark reality. In the contrast we see what we might be, and what we truly are.
In that instant when Peter asks Jesus to depart from him because he is sinful, Jesus does not leave him. Peter may have been surprised and shocked by the self-realization of his sin, but God was not. God knew it all the time. It often requires a shock, a contrast, to enable God to break through our self- satisfaction and our pride. When we feel ashamed and unworthy, our defenses are down.
So the Lord doesn't depart from us. The depth of our sin may surprise us. All through our blindness Christ is beside us, and when we begin to see ourselves as we really are, he is able to bestow on us his forgiveness and renewing strength. He has been with us all the time.
Awareness of our sin is the awareness of our need for God. Let us welcome it. (1981)
PRAY for the Church of the
Ps 138; Isaiah 6:1-8(9-13); 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
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