The well-known hymn “Just As I Am” was written in 1835 by Charlotte Elliott. It has been sung in church services and other religious events for years, many times after a speaker’s message, inviting people to come to Jesus Christ.
The words to the first verse are:
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!
And they do indeed describe the situation in which we must come to know Jesus Christ as our Savior. We come to Him by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The words in Romans 10:13 declare, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It is through Jesus Christ alone that we come to a true saving faith.
However, sadly – in today’s world it seems too many people seem to think the “Just as I am” applies to them both BEFORE and AFTER salvation. They seem to think that they can just believe in the facts about Jesus and His death on the cross, claim Him as their Savior and then go right on living the way they have always lived with very little (if any) real change in their hearts or in their lives. THAT IS NOT TRUE.
Yes, we come to Him just as we are – we can do nothing to earn salvation. Faith in Jesus Christ is NOT dependent upon us making any changes or doing anything ourselves. HOWEVER, IF we TRULY come to Him for salvation, there WILL BE CHANGE AFTERWARDS.
The Bible clearly tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Genuine salvation IS by FAITH ALONE, but TRUE FAITH will result in a changed live, a changed heart, changed desires, changed actions…a NEW CREATION.
We CANNOT continue to live the way we’ve always lived before we came to know Him. While we do come to Him just as we are, bringing nothing of own to the table – we arise from that “table” a NEW person. James wrote in James 2:17, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” If our faith in God does not produce a desire for a changed life, we have no real faith in God.
Yes, it takes time to completely change as we grow in our faith and our relationship with God, but there WILL BE CHANGE!!