Just As I Am

Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee
O Lamb of God, I come! I come
~ William Bradbury - Just As I Am ~

Just as I am.  Not only is this one of my all time favorite hymns, but it describes perfectly my own path to a deeper relationship with Christ.  It is no cooincidence that every now and then I return to a recording of this song as a reminder of how far Christ Jesus has led me through my life.  I first heard it while my mom watched a Billy Graham crusade of television.  As the old preacher finished his sermon, the music began and thousands of people rose and walked to the front of the stadium.  Although I was too young to understand what I was watching, this was the begining of my acceptance of who Jesus was.  Here were thousands of people from every walk of life coming forward to give their lives to Christ.  Like I said, I was much too young to realize the significance of all I was seeing.  The way I saw it, there was no way that Jesus could ever see me as good enough to save unless I worked to make myself as a person more to His liking.  Can you blame me for feeling this way?  This was all which I had been taught since my earliest days of sunday school.  Jesus is holy, we are but sinners in need of redemption.  The closest we can get is to BE LIKE our savior.  A good friend of mine mentioned this week that we have been misled from the pulpit.  I agree.  Not only do we war against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, but against thousands of years of the teachings of church doctrine {Ephesians 6:12}.  As they say, if you tell a lie often enough, eventually it becomes accepted as truth.  The trouble is, the "truth" of Christ which the church teaches is vastly different from the way Jesus desires for us to see Him.  We can be assured that Jesus is not in some far off location looking down upon us.  The apostle Paul tells us in Galations that it is Christ Jesus who lives in us today {Galations 2:20}.  What would your reaction be if someone told you that?  Well, for me it was a tough pill to swallow.  Old teachings die hard.

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
John 6: 37 NKJV

One day not so long ago I found myself once again listening to that old hymn.  As I said those words once again I thought to myself, why wouldn't Jesus want to be with me?  He who became sin in my place that I would be spared its penalty {2 Corinthians 5:21}.  Why wouldn't Jesus accept me...just as I am?  I believe that in our most broken of times in our lives are those times when He reminds us of just how He loves us.  No matter how many times I've messed up or gone in the wrong direction, I can rest assured that He loves me...just as I am.  Just as I am, a sometimes arrogant, impatient and wrong thinking child of God.  Despite all of the wrong things I see in myself He love sme...just as I am.  It's also important to remember here that the way I sometimes see myself has nothing whatsoever to do with how Jesus sees me.  For where I see failures, Jesus sees grace.  Where I see imperfection, He sees love.  Indeed, if I were to ask Him to forgive me for where I've sinned His response would be...what sin?  I don't see that old hymn as a vehicle of church doctrine, but as a reminder of the love of Christ Jesus.  For despite all of my imperfections, He called me His own.  In my lowest point when I thought I was all alone He comes to me.  "You are my child and I love you...just as you are."

~Scott~