Let's take Isaiah, for example. He was a prophet during the Old Testament days. One day, his eyes were opened to something he'd never seen before. His mind was blown because he had seen the True and Living God. What was his response?
Basically, he came undone. He saw God, and he also saw something else. He saw his own sin and felt helpless before a holy God.
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6 ESV)
This section of Scripture is rich. Don't skim over it. This is what happens when a person encounters the true and living God. Now, let's look at another person. This person was at work catching fish, when a man calls him to be a follower of His. This is recorded in the New Testament in Luke, chapter 5.
On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (ESV)
Again, we see a person who has his eyes open to who God is. Peter (Simon) is never the same after this. Look at the verse where Peter tells the Lord to depart from him. What was the reason? Peter saw the true and living God in holiness, and, he also saw his own sin. This is what happens when a person sees God. They see God's holiness, and like a mirror works, they see their sinfulness. This is a good thing. God is delighted to take away our sins.
In the New Testament, we see people coming to Jesus for many different reasons. Some wanted to be healed. Others wanted Jesus to settle an argument. Whatever the reason was, the only reason we really need to come to Him is because of the seriousness of our sin. It's not wrong to ask God to heal us or protect us. What is wrong though, is when we come to God in order to get things from Him. People use other things in this world to get what they want. It is called 'idolatry' and it is the oldest sin in the book. Idolatry is when we worship something in order to get something in return from the object we worship. We expect the object we worship to make us happy or to serve us in some way. We come to God, because He has drawn us to Himself, and revealed to us our need for a Savior. We turn to the Savior to remove our sins and give us a new heart, and the power to say 'no' to sin, and 'yes' to righteousness. But if we come to God only to escape hell, we might be in for a surprise.
God wants us to be reconciled to Him, and that can take place because Jesus died on the Cross to pay for our sins so we could be reconciled to God. If we just want to escape hell, then we are not necessarily interested in being reconciled to God. So we can ask ourselves, Do we want to be reconciled to God by having a relationship with His Son, or, Do we just want to go to heaven when we die? Is our relationship with God based on a conviction of sin and our need of Him, or is it based on idolatry, using God to get what we want?
Can we use God like a Genie in a bottle? Many people do, but that is not the same as responding to the Gospel message. God sees our hearts and knows what our motives are. If you are concerned about your relationship with God, please send an email to RUgood@mail.com or you can also visit http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com or http://test4gp.wordpress.com
You can ask God to help you look at your own heart. Be honest with yourself and God. Remember, God knows your heart. He can help you see your sin and your need for Him, but if you are not honest with yourself, you will not see your sin, and you will remain blind to God. You could fool yourself, but you will never fool God. Pray for eyes to see Him with. God is an awesome God.
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