LAUNCH OUT INTO THE DEEP

As Jesus stood upon the boat where he had been teaching the crowd gathered by the lake, he commanded Simon Peter, "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught."  And lo and behold--although the fishermen had labored all night and caught nothing--"they enclosed a vast multitude of fishes, and their net brake."  Now it is true and certain that the depths of the sea of life in this temporal world are fraught with many dangers  for those striving to tread the path of salvation--but unless we are willing, placing our full faith and trust in God alone, to set forth into uncharted territories, we are destined to fall far short of our God-given potential.

For truly, a life worth living requires that we boldly step forward into the unknown, fully trusting in God's guidance and inspiration.  As our Lord revealed to  the Holy Apostle Paul: "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."  It is, indeed, a spiritual law that the more we are willing to acknowledge our total dependence on God and our inability to do anything good whatsoever apart from Him, the more abundant will be the grace that He bestows upon us.

What this means is that we must strive always  to empty ourselves of every egotistical thought and desire.  For so long as we live as though our lives are all about us--the further we are bound to drift apart from God and to fail to acquire the good things He has in store for those who love Him and are willing to obey His commandments.

So long as we are full of ourselves, no room remains within our hearts to receive the love of God and the sanctifying grace of His Holy Spirit.  And so, in the end, we are bound to fall into the dark abyss of isolation and despair... to fashion for ourselves a hell of our own making.  We must be willing to die to ourselves if we desire to live with God--that we may--persevering unto the end-- be deemed worthy of the gift of eternal life in His heavenly Kingdom.