I have to admit, I don’t love getting invitations to attend events and parties. Mainly because that means I have to find something suitable to wear. I have to go through the motions of preparation to attend the event. It’s a process that can sometimes take quite a bit of effort. So sometimes to keep from getting overwhelmed, I just don’t go. When we hear the term come as you are, we usually apply it to how you look. But what about coming the way your heart mind and soul is, as is.
A major hang up that I’ve noticed in people deciding to accept the invitation to give their lives to Christ is the notion that the life you give to Christ has to be perfect, neat and wrapped with a bow. There is a belief that you have to go through the process of making yourself over before you accept the invitation of the Lord. The thing is, we don’t have what it takes to do the same thing the Lord wants to do for us. We are in need to be made new with saving grace and only the Savior has a sufficient supply. From there it is In Christ, the new creation happens. After we have come to Him.
I understand why some may feel that way. Because its God, right!? People feel they don’t want to give God a damaged soul. Sadly though, this idea alone keeps many people from the Lord. See some of us may be in situations that make us feel unworthy to be in the presence of God. And people can make us feel like we aren’t holy enough to sit with the Lord. Just as they did in Mark 2 when they questioned why Jesus would want to be around sinners. That’s what the enemy does. He takes your shame and holds it over you by messing with your mind or using other people to remind you of your shortcomings. It can feel overwhelming and sometimes we start to believe the lie. Then we just decide not to go to the Lord. But here is where we can remember that God said that he came to call those that are in darkness or lost. He came to meet you where you are so that He can get you to the place that you need to be.
In the book of Luke 5 & Mark 2, in the passage of conflict over the “kind” of people that Jesus was hanging around, people asked, why does he eat with the tax collectors and sinners? Here was Jesus’s reply.
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.
Mark 2:17
Jesus said he came to call the sinners. He didn’t say that you had to come to him with the proper attire of the heart. When he calls us, he is calling us to Him as we are. He knows you more than you know yourself and He still loves you enough to want to make you new in Him. You think your sin keeps Him from caring for us when in fact the word says that he loves us so much that He gave His life while we were still in our sin.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still/yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
God didn’t say, get yourself together then I will come and save you from sin. He didn’t say that He was only going to dine with the righteous. He said YET……. Yet while we were STILL sinners. Thank you Jesus! Yet while I am still in my mess, I can go to Him and He will meet me and lead me to higher ground. My Savior, my Healer, my Deliverer.
My confession: I am always so elated to see someone come to Jesus and accept His invitation of deliverance from sin. I will cry tears of joy to see someone come as they are to Christ. Id rather see this every single day than to see the same “righteous” people praising and worshipping. I love that too, but there is something about a prodigal son!!
Some of us have wrestled with things for so long that we have become tired of trying. It’s a sense of hopelessness that people feel when it comes to situations that they see no help or end to.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
God tells us that we don’t have to stay in our struggles of unforgiveness of self. Our struggles of carrying the burdens that keep us down. All debts have been paid by the blood and you have been sent an invitation to the most important union in your life. You are Invited to sup with the Lord. Don’t worry about what you look on the inside or the out. God shows no favoritism. He is not calling for those that are righteous. He is calling for those that are in need of Him. Those who are Yet. He will make us new. God is saying COME AS YOU ARE!! He will take lead in the rest.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for how you have loved us and continue to love us today. We thank you that you loved us so that you sent your only son to die for our sins that we may have rest in your hands. We pray that those in need of you feel free and encouraged to come to you. That they remember that no matter what they have done or been through, that Jesus us there, calling them to Him, as they are. That He is the Savior to save those in need of Saving. Those yet in sin. We pray for the release of strongholds over the minds of those who are burdened by their sin. We turn it over to you right now. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen!
Originally Published By Clemetra Dashie June 29, 2020