Just As I Am JESUS calls to us to come to Him just as we are, no matter what our sins are or how great they may be, or how heavy may be the burden we carry because of them. His great appeal is, “Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:28,29. Many take their own way in trying to be saved: Some simply try to be good; others try to live like Christians; and still others try to reach heaven by their good works or great efforts. All these imitations fail. They will not lead us to Christ, nor will they lead us to heaven. When we at last respond to Christ’s tender invitation to come to Him, He lifts from us our heavy burdens and lets us go free. Our sins are taken from us, and our souls’ needs are richly supplied, so that we may live happy and victorious Christian lives. For all this we have the promise, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19. When we come to Jesus just as we are, we come to Him just as He is. We are finite. He is infinite. He makes all the changes necessary to transform us into true followers of Him. Let us consider two striking examples of those who have had this experience. The first is that of Charlotte Elliott. She longed to come to Christ, but knew not how. So she went to a saintly man well along in years and asked him the way. He said, “It is very simple. You have but simply to come to Jesus.” Then she said, “But I am a very great sinner. Will He take me just as I am?” “Yes,” he answered, “He will take you just as you are, and no other way.” So she made up her mind to go to Jesus just as she was, and said to him, “If He will take me just as I am, then I will come.” So she went home and tried to come to Jesus in the simplest way she could. Then taking pen and paper and putting her thoughts into poetry, she wrote down her simple yet complete and touching way of coming to Jesus, the first two stanzas of which are the following: In due time the words were set to most appropriate music by a leading composer, William B. Bradbury, and they have doubtless won a great number of people to Christ. Then there is the story of a certain transformed drunkard. He had fallen so low that his family had disowned him, and even his wife had cast him off. One night, footsore and penniless, he stumbled into the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. Someone was singing “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy.” It just broke me all up, he said, but he didn’t surrender. After the meeting he found his way to the home where his wife lived with her father. He threw himself down in the yard, hoping that in the morning he might catch a glimpse of his little boy, whom he was no longer allowed to visit. As the morning began to dawn, the song was still ringing in his ears. He afterward said, “Instead of creeping up to the window, I just crept up to the feet of Jesus! ... He just put His arms around my neck and loved me! And when the sun rose, I was a new man!” Many others are deep down in sin like this dear man, who will be saved only by the pitying love of Jesus, so well described in the last stanza of Charlotte Elliott’s song: So if you have not yet found Jesus, and are sinking in sin for the want of His compassionate love, you, too, may come just now, just as you are. Won’t you do it? And then your own soul’s needs will be fully supplied by Him, and you, too, will be forgiven and cleansed and made happy in Him. And all the way to heaven He will walk close by your side, helping you over the hard places, strengthening you, caring for you, comforting you, till at last you reach the Father’s house in heaven on high.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 06:42:50 +0000
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