Called Before Clean

"And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." (Luke 5:10)

Peter says go away, and Jesus does not go. He says do not be afraid, and then he hands the man a job, and the two things come in a single breath, which is exactly how God has always done it. Isaiah says I am a man of unclean lips, and God touches his mouth with a coal and sends him. Moses says I cannot speak, and God sends him. Gideon says I am the least in my father's house, and God calls him a mighty man of valor and sends him. Peter says depart from me, I am a sinful man, and Jesus says, from now on you will catch people.

No one in the Bible gets clean first and then gets called. They get called, and then, over years, and badly, and with a great deal of falling down, they get clean. The order never reverses. Cleanness is the fruit of the call, not the entrance fee.

So if you are waiting until you are worthy of the commission before you accept it, you will die waiting, and the waiting will feel like humility while it is actually the last stand of your pride, insisting that you must be presentable before God can use you. He is not afraid of your unworthiness. He is standing in the boat with it right now, saying do not be afraid, and handing you a net. Take it before you feel ready. Ready is not coming, and it was never the requirement.