Come As You Are

As I was having a worship session one evening in my flat, three songs played after each other, and I noticed a common link between them. The three songs were Majesty, Come As You Are and Here I am to Worship. Below are the verses that have the link, see if you can spot it.

Majesty
Here I am, humbled by your Majesty
Covered by Your grace so free
Here I am, knowing I’m a sinful man
Covered by the blood of the Lamb
….
Majesty, Majesty,
Your grace has found me just as I am
Empty handed by alive in Your hands

Come as You Are
So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart come as you are

Come Now Is The Time To Worship
Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship,
Come, just as you are before your God
Come

The title of this blog may have been a give away, but the link between these three songs is that they all talk about coming to God just as you are. Majesty says, “here I am, knowing I’m a sinful man”. 'Come as You Are' tells us wanderers to “come home”, laying down burdens, shame, hurt and our hearts, to come as we are. ‘Come Now is the time to worship’ repeats “just as you are before your God, come”.


There are verses in the Bible that back up these lyrics too.
Matthew 11:28 says, “come to me, all who are weary and I will give you rest”. The verse doesn’t read, “be alert and perfect, or at least put on a smile and then make your way to me”.


John 6:27 doesn’t say, “come to me, but if you’re not good enough I’ll send you away”, but instead tells us, “everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will never send away”


In John 4, Jesus talks to the woman at the well who has had five husbands, and the man she is living with is not her husband either. Yet Jesus still invites her to come and have a drink from the everlasting waters, so that she’ll never be thirsty again. Jesus doesn’t tell her to go away and sort her life out, come back when she’s done and then maybe He’ll offer everlasting life, as long as she promises to keep up the good work. Jesus sits with her just as she is; meeting her where she’s at.

I saw a video earlier in the week of a friend’s baby who is just learning to crawl. Someone in the video is holding a toy, shaking it to get the attention of the baby, but slowly moves away as the baby gets closer and closer, encouraging her to crawl that bit more. Thankfully, Jesus is nothing like that. He doesn’t wave goodness and blessings and comfort and love at us, but then as we get closer to him, he slowly moves away making us crawl even further than we’ve already come.

Maybe today you are exhausted. Maybe you’re fed up. Maybe you’re angry, you’re hurt, you’re stressed out with a never-ending to do list. Maybe you don’t even know what you feel, but it’s certainly not yourself. Come to Jesus just as you are. Lay it all before you, your anxieties, questions, heavy heart and burdens. Let Him meet you just as you are. “Wanderer come home, you’re not too far”.

click on the images above to hear the songs