The authentic mark of the man or woman who genuinely has met God is a profound sense of personal worthlessness. There is something about confronting absolute holiness which makes us painfully aware of the contrast between God and ourselves. We feel suddenly naked and exposed as God looks through all our masks and pretenses, our hypocrisies and conceits, to the ugliness deep within. How ironic that religion is so often connected with pride, for true relationship with God can never foster arrogance.
Your first emotional response to being in the presence of God will not be awe or gratitude but shame .. shame for what you are; shame for what you have failed to be; shame for ever thinking you had anything to be proud of.
Shame was Job’s response to the presence of God.
"My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:5-6
Shame was Isaiah’s response to a vision of God.
"Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips, and my eyes have see the King, the Lord Almighty.’" Isaiah 6:5
Shame was Peter’s response after witnessing Jesus’ power.
"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Luke 5:8
To many people, shame is itself something of which to be ashamed. They resist the feeling, thinking that anyone who is bad enough to feel shame is too bad for the mercies of God. In reality, the opposite is true. Only those who are overwhelmed by their shame and unworthiness can be touched by God. It is those who mourn who will be comforted. Only he who "hates his life" will keep it for eternal life.
We label someone a psychopath who rapes, steals or murders without shame. What label do we apply to one who sins in less conspicuous ways, yet still has no shame before his God? The difference between the two is only a difference of degree, not of kind. As we stand before God, the only attitude which is not psychopathic is a crushing sense of our own sinfulness and a passionate gratitude for God’s mercy.
(From Look at the Man Copyright 1989, Tim Woodroof and Glen Gray, Lincoln Church of Christ, 820 N. 56th Street, Lincoln, NE 68504. Used by permission)