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.

Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

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.

Just as I am, of that free love
The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove,
Here for a season, then above,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Charlotte Elliot 1835

It should come as no surprise that hymn after hymn is accompanied by a contextual note which speaks of a particular grief or struggle out of which arose the occasion of the writing of the words (and sometimes tunes) which we sing today.  What is surprising is that for many this hymn, by Charlotte Elliot, should feel so trite: her life says otherwise.

There are many who have been dealt to heavily in suffering – just yesterday I heard of two young men, each battling cancer: one a tumour in the brain, the other in his bowel.  Both are men of faith both are ‘too young’ to be facing such battles and yet they do.

It is a great comfort that in the highs and lows of life we have an assurance of God’s total knowledge of us – not simply with regard to His omniscience (as if that were not enough?!?!?!) but also that having lived in the flesh and blood realities of this world, He knows us as our True Friend and Brother.  When we come to Him, there is no pretence at perfection – there is either fear and shrinking back in His total discovery of who we are or better, the response of faith, to come with boldness and confidence in response to His call and promise.  If we were to wait till we were ‘well enough’ to be accepted by Jesus there would not be days long enough to keep that pause: if you are to come at all, it is as yourself and without anything held back: He knows us as we truly are.

Indeed He knows us as we truly are and has therefore TRULY dealt with the issue as it really is. There is no mincing about, no subtlety, at the cross – the price of our reality is laid bare.  Jesus is stripped naked, beaten, spat up and reviled by the religious and irreligious alike.  He is judged by God on our behalf – taking our unrighteousness and offering in its stead His perfect record; so it might be counted ours, just as He had counted what was rightly ours as truly His.

We approach God in the full reality of who we are, ‘wrapped’ in the full reality of who Jesus is and what his death and resurrection have attained on our behalf – now THAT is worth singing about.  Charlotte Elliot had it right – her words carry on her tear soaked and vital testimony to the Truth.

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:6-11