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”
If you are a frequent attendee to church, you will recognize the above lyrics to one of the most classic hymns. The song “Just As I Am” was written by Charlotte Elliott and was first published in 1755 hymnals. It is a beloved hymn around the world and is very popular choice to be sung at the close of church services during what is commonly referred to as the “invitation”. This is the time that people are given to come forward and give their lives to Christ and join the family of God.
It is one of my favorite hymns that we sing quite often at my church. I love what it says. It is saying, “God, here I am. I am surrendering myself to you. I want you to have me.” I love that it shares the idea that God wants us exactly how we are. We don’t have to reach a certain level of goodness before He accepts us. We don’t have to obtain a certain status. While all this is 100% true, we have somehow distorted this idea. We have turned it into a false truth.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Over the years it has somehow become very popular to think that God should just be happy to have us. Regardless of what we do or say. People think that they can become a Christian but yet continue in their wicked way of life. We think that God will forgive us and allow us to continue to go down the same road we always have. We basically think God is content to have us “Just As I Am”. This is a lie. This is an idea that will take countless numbers of “Christians” straight to hell. Look again at what Paul says in 2 Corinthians. If we are in Christ, we are a new creature. We are a new person. We have a change of heart. We want different things in our lives.
So many times people want to hang onto their sin. They are not willing to give up their own selfish desires. It’s like our attitude is we have the right to receive God’s grace and mercy but also continue in our sinful lives without repentance. We think that we should be able to hang onto our vice’s and God should still grant us eternal life in heaven anyway. Let’s look at this a little more logically.
If you were lied to by your friend or spouse, and you caught them in that lie, you would want an apology as well as to see a change in their actions. You are not interested in an apology only to see them continue to lie to you over and over. You want to see them repent from their habit of lying. You want to see some remorse. If you did not see a change in how they were living, you would not trust them and feel close to them. Why then do we think that God should forgive us, provide eternal life for eternity, and allow us to continue with our sinful lives as normal? I am not saying we will live a sinless life once we are saved, but we should have the desire and intent on doing so. God’s grace and mercy applied to our hearts should result in a change in our attitude and desires. We should have a desire towards the things of God. We should have a desire to try and avoid sin not indulge in it.
If you are one who walked the aisle to receive God’s salvation but the whole time you had no intention on giving up some of your sinful desires, I believe you may have a problem. You have not given all of yourself to God. Salvation is only received when you give everything to God. You cannot hold onto this world and the things of this world and be a child of God. I would never be willing to marry someone who wanted to keep a boyfriend around. Their heart is not with me. They are not giving themselves to me and our marriage. They are not dedicated to me. God is no different. He wants your whole heart. And when you give your whole heart and life to Him, you will be changed. You will no longer be “Just As I Am” and you will not want to be.