COME AS YOU ARE
I remember back in the days when I felt that I was too sinful to be accepted among my Christian friends. They seemed to know something that I didn’t. No one really wants to be perceived as being ignorant. That attitude will be a stumbling block for many people because they feel that they are unworthy of anything that God may have to offer them knowing that they are laced with sin.
In reality, no one is worthy of God’s love, not even one of us! But, that is not something you can understand until you get your feet a bit wet in spiritual knowledge. All are sinners and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) but again you have to get a little bit of spiritual knowledge in you in order to understand what that means.
We have this notion that we have to clean up our act a bit before we come in the presence of God. That is a good thought in reverence to God but it is a goal nearly impossible to achieve without help from the same God we are trying to impress.
This sin-affliction that we have in us is deeper than one might think. You think that you can just stop doing the really bad things and that will clean up your act, but even when you deny yourself the actual act of sinning the thought could still be there as sharp as it was before so a cleanup job is virtually impossible without intervention by a counter-balancing force that causes you to sin in the first place. We are not battling against just flesh and blood but against other dark forces from the dark side of the spiritual kingdom. (Ephesians 6:12) This might sound like Star Wars but I can assure you that it is real.
As a fellow sinner, I speak with experience knowing that my sins are deep and still in me. I am only better because of what has been done to and for me, but alone I am powerless to defeat certain forces. Yes, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking prey to destroy (1 Peter 5:8) but he does not come with a pick fork, horns, and a tail. He comes like a sheep all dressed up in fine linen. He could appear in people you know even in houses of worship and that is no joke. Spiritual forces are virtually unseen so before you know what you are facing you are already in their mitts. In order to wage war against dark spiritual forces, you need the Light of the Spirit, which is superior. Again, this goes deeper into spiritual knowledge that is necessary to learn so you don’t feel that you are in a battle alone.
Until you realize that you need help you are not likely to ask for it. Until you realize what powers you are fighting against you really don’t know where to turn in order to seek the proper kind of help. If you are going to a war against people with big guns you do not want to bring a toothpick. To wage spiritual warfare you need spiritual weapons. In addition, you need a commander familiar with such warfare to guide you through the trenches wherever they may be. This and much more you will learn once you decide to come in out of the storm but that requires that you take a leap of faith just to get out of the storm.
Again, I speak from experience because my ego ranks with the best of them. I feel that I am a strong-minded and strong-will person so asking someone to help me with something that is personal was my first battle. I did not want to reveal my tender underbelly or weaknesses. I felt that I should be able to overcome things such as sins or personal weaknesses. That was when I thought it was just me against my own weaknesses. I had no idea that I was also fighting against unseen forces that were out to get me. I had no way of knowing that because I did not have the proper knowledge to make such an informed decision. So my first order of business was beating down my ego.
Even though my guardians raised me on the bible, I knew of what it stated but I did not know how to put such things into practice so it would become a part of who I was. Book knowledge is good but until you know how to apply knowledge it can be almost dangerous. That is like going out to battle with the wrong tools, e.g. toothpick to a knife fight.
Knowing about the Bible and allowing what is in the Bible to penetrate into your thick skull are two different matters. Let’s just say that I needed to bump my head on quite a few walls before I gave in. My ego finally said, ‘that’s enough!’ Once my ego came down to size I was able to actually listen to good, sound advice from otherwise souls. Humility ended up being a major ingredient that I had to learn. Perhaps my story sounds a bit familiar to some of you?
This notion of “coming as you are” took a bit of softening of my hard head in order to get to first base. Once that wall softened all things became possible. Help started coming from all kinds of places and people because I was ready to be taught. When the pupil is ready to learn the teacher will show up. I wanted to learn the things of God and He wanted to teach me but I had to first get my ego-self out of our way. Help was actually coming from the light side of the spiritual realm but that also required some spiritual knowledge… not in the same manner as before because God really doesn’t have to prove anything. God’s light is always shining. We only need to step into God’s light of truth. You must be willing to do so by your will power and volition in order for it to work.
The truth of the matter is that God watches over all His children and knows when they are ready to come in out of the storm. As stated, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them near.” John 6:44 — This statement from Christ requires a bit of unpacking but we do not just decide to come to God. There is a call from God to us inviting us to Him and we simply need to respond to His call. This means that we need His help just to enter His arena and that is why Christ said:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30
Although what I have just summarized took me years of beat-down with my overinflated ego, I finally softened up enough that even almighty God could come in. That is not because God is weak and I am strong but the opposite. I was a fool and God was a gentle Spirit waiting me out. He does have eternity on His side so go figure!
The bottom line to this story is that we come to God as we are and He does the fixing according to what He knows is broken. We have no idea what is spiritually broken in us so we have to trust in the Helpmate, (Holy Spirit) that knows all about us even before the world was formed. So yes my fellow human souls, come to God as you are and allow Him to do the fixing for you. He is quite capable of doing it all by Himself without your help if you learn to trust in Him by faith. You really don’t need to wait until you get old to come to God. Do so while you are young and capable of doing so much good with all that young, fresh, vibrant energy. All praise to Almighty God in the name of His most precious Son, Christ Jesus… Selah!
