Just As I Am, Without One Plea

I recently heard the old hymn, Just As I Am, Without One Plea.  I can't say that I have ever given the song's lyrics much thought until now.  In fact, I haven't heard the song in at least 15 years.  For some reason, as I was taking down the Christmas tree today, I began to really dwell on the words of the song.  Here they are:


1. 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. 

2. 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. 

 3. 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. 

 4. 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. 

 5. 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. 

6. 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.

What a powerful, powerful song when you sort through the "thees" and "thous".  What a perfect picture of how we should come to Christ realizing that we are broken without Him. How He wants us to come to Him as we are, for if we try to fix ourselves we will simply make a bigger mess of ourselves. Just as if I tried gluing back together a vase I broke. What an ugly, sticky, misaligned, leaky mess it would be. The only person qualified to completely restore it would be its Creator.

Our Creator doesn't want us polishing up and making repairs before we come to Him. As the song says, He bids us to come to Him. "Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 His blood will cleanse us...every. single. blotch. And verse 5 of the song reminds us that He will receive us with welcoming arms. He will pardon, cleanse and relieve us. I don't know about you, but I could certainly use some relief at different points in my life. Life is hard, just plain 'ole hard. 

I've often thought about how much easier it would be to live in the "olden days". Have you ever thought that too? I've dreamed of how great it must have been to live a slower-paced life. But the lyrics of this song, that were written in the 1700s, sounds identical to some of the things I've said over my lifetime. "...though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within". "I am poor, wretched and blind." All of us can sing these words with conviction for they describe far too many of our days.  If you're like me, you become weary and burdened by sin, conflict, hurt, the list goes on.  Often it feels as though we're being tossed around in a "storm".  Doubt screams in our ears and fears weigh us down with chains.

His blood was shed for it all....all...no really, ALL. How narrow-minded we are to forget about the precious Blood of Jesus Christ.  And His love has broken down every barrier.

So that...

Just as I am, without one plea...Oh Lamb of God...I come, I come.  And I praise You for the love and forgiveness I find when I reach Your arms.