Come As You Are

Philippians 2:13 ( NLT), “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

If you’ve been going to church for a good amount of time you’ve probably heard this phrase at some point, “come as you are”. I have always understood this phrase to mean it doesn’t matter what you wear, or what may be going on in your life, just come to the Lord and His house as you are.

While driving home from work the other day, this phrase, which I hadn’t heard in quite some time, “come as you are”, came to my mind. As a Christian, we can sometimes grow weary in our quest to seek the Lord. Although we desire to know God better and draw closer to Him, it’s easy to become frustrated if we feel we’re not making the progress we want to make. I have been there before. Many times I have found myself trying to figure out the right “formula” to make progress in my Christian journey. I’ve tried to make sure I was carefully following each step that I thought was needed in an attempt to get God to do what I wanted Him to do.

I, like many other Christians, enjoy listening to sermons online, reading books to help me grow spiritually, talking to other Christians and learning from their experiences, etc. However, even in the midst of all of this, at the end of the day, we can’t forget that what God desires most is our heart. He’s not expecting us to look or sound a certain way when we pray. He’s not checking up on us to see how many mistakes we have made in the last couple of hours. He’s not watching to see if we can perfectly recite the books of the Bible, in perfect order, in under 5 minutes (although I don’t doubt there are some who can)! I repeat, what He desires most are hearts that yearn to grow in intimacy with Him.

“Come as you are”, is not just for new Christians or someone coming to church for the first time. It’s for all of us, rather you’ve been walking with the Lord 5, 15, or 30 years! We should enjoy our relationship with God, and have an attitude that says, “God loves me just as I am, and He is eager to spend time with me today. Every new day that He allows us to see, is another day for us to get to know Him better, and experience His goodness in our lives. Even when we are going through hardships, we can come to him just as we are, and pour out all our frustrations on Him. He will understand exactly how we feel. He doesn’t expect us to “have it all together”.

Don’t get caught up in the “formulas” of Christian living and tire yourself out. Instead, just enjoy the simplicity of getting to know God and letting Him love you. Allow yourself to be yourself without the pressure of trying to perform perfectly.

As we learn God’s Word and apply it to our lives, we will see ourselves changing and growing in faith and in godly wisdom. Just come to the Savior as you are, and rely on His grace to make you into everything He has destined you to become (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Author: Dawn

The love of Jesus will never fail you. Thank you for visiting my blog. View all posts by Dawn