just as i am

Just as I am without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God I come, I come!

I was listening to this hymn last night and was struck in a fresh way about the simplicity of following Jesus.  Here I am, with all my sin, no righteousness, no merit of my own to claim; yet, He welcomes me.  Somewhere inside, there is still this part of me that wants to think there is some merit of my own.  It doesn’t show up overtly, but in the little ways that I can try to pursue perfection, the ways I try to get things in order before I come to the Lord.

The reality is that He knows everything about me- He has woven me together in my mother’s womb.  He has given me both strengths and weaknesses.  He knows the places where I can believe Him easily and the places where I turn to follow the “stubborn inclination of my evil heart.”  He invites us to come to Him in the midst of our messes, not when they are cleaned up, because God sees us through Jesus. I can’t get over this reality.  It is amazing to me that He loves me unconditionally every moment.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

Messy or not, here I come!

Scripture: Psalm 103:8-14,  NIV