Just as I Am

Father, my life has been filled with so many different things both beneficial and detrimental but You have woven them all into the fabric of who I have become and I am grateful that regardless You have used them to make my life a thing of beauty in Your eyes. You accept me, as You accept all of us, as we are. All praise to You for Your love, mercy, and grace is freely given in abundance to us all!

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Karen and I were blessed to be able to spend a wonderful day together today. We enjoyed talking together and walking with each other. (My phone says we walked 3.29 miles!) We ate together and did some shopping. We talked with a friend, a fellow teacher of Karen’s, and then later ran into a couple whose children had been in my “congregation” when I was a Children’s Pastor twenty plus years ago. God has blessed me with a wonderful companion for almost 34 years now!

On our way home tonight, our conversation took a more serious turn and as we talked, I was once again reminded how God has been actively at work in my life all of my life – hence my opening paragraph.

Some years ago, I wrestled with the fact that my testimony was pretty bland. I sowed a few wild oats but for the most part, I toed the line of what was expected of me as a Christian young man. By no means was I perfect but I truly believe that God kept me from so many things that could have drastically changed the course of my life. And with that knowledge, I let that become my testimony.

Now let me be clear, there are things in my life about which very few people know. I even shocked Karen with an experience I had as a young child – I had never shared it with her before. I am tainted, as we all are. I am no more without sin than anyone reading this blog is. But as I said in my opening prayer, God accepts me, as He accepts all of us, as we are.

Of course, as anyone that has read much of what I have written would know, I love music and hymns come to mind often as I write. The one that comes to mind tonight is Just as I Am. It was written way back in 1834 by Charlotte Elliot and many associate it with what God was able to accomplish in the many years of ministry granted to Rev. Billy Graham.

Here is just the first stanza:

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

I could not communicate it any better than what I found on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s website concerning this hymn,

According to How Sweet the Sound, a book by Billy Graham’s longtime Crusade soloist George Beverly Shea, Mr. Graham once explained that “we have ‘no plea’—no claim on God’s love or forgiveness—except that Jesus shed His innocent blood to reconcile us to His Father.”
There’s nothing we can do to earn salvation or freedom from sin; we simply must receive it through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
Ironically, we live in a world that screams for acceptance through careers, social media, and peers, but we often have difficulty receiving acceptance from a Savior.
Like trying to stubbornly wipe a dirty stain off a favorite shirt, we attempt to fix our own problems, wanting to appear better than we actually are. We forget that God created us in His own image and doesn’t desire our good intentions, but the very hearts that He designed.

Lord Jesus, may we lay claim to the last stanza of this simple hymn.

Just as I am! Thy love unknown
Hath broken every barrier down.;
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Feb 17^th, 2020, Mon, 7:48 pm