Come As You Are

How often, as modern-day Christians, do we hear the phrase, “Come as you are”? Or perhaps, “God loves you just the way you are.”
I’ve listened to both on various occasions and in all different settings, whether in a worship song, on social media, or even in church. When the idea for this blog post came to mind, I searched for the verse that correlated with the above phrase. But I discovered something. There is no Bible verse with these words, “Come as you are.” None. Am I the only one shocked by this? Because I thought I most definitely read those words somewhere in the Bible. I didn’t even question the phrase until now. I just assumed it was a word-by-word quote.

The most astonishing thing about this phrase is how beautifully it describes the true meaning of who Jesus Christ is. A Redeemer, a Friend. An invitation to freedom.
The fact that this phrase isn’t found in Scripture doesn’t necessarily mean it’s false. However, I do fear it’s become greatly distorted by the jagged snares of Satan’s lies. The phrase is an “almost-truth”–a lie so close to the truth, a deceptive “angel” hidden in the shadows–that one can easily overlook, which makes the lie all the more dangerous.

“Come as you are.”
What, exactly, does this mean, and how is it possibly true? There may not be a Bible verse that flat out says these words, but the meaning is implied in various Scriptures, although the verse that most likely sparked this phrase is Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.”
I believe the proclamation that we can come to Jesus, no matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been, to be true. Over and over again in the Gospels, we see Jesus eating with the outcasts, rescuing the lost, and freeing the enslaved. Even before Jesus’ life, dating back to Genesis, we see how Jesus didn’t come to save the healthy but to heal the sick (Luke 5:31-32). What we do and have done doesn’t determine the authenticity of the power of Jesus’ blood. He knew what we would do in the shadows and all we would try to keep hidden from seeing eyes. But regardless of this, He became the Mediator between us and God, providing us a pathway to ultimate freedom.

Unfortunately, an important detail is often left out of this phrase, “Come as you are.” In this world and society, things have become twisted to fit within humanity’s desires. All truth is truth. Whatever is, goes. You believe what you want, and I’ll believe what I want. All religions are pathways to Heaven. Truth has been completely thrown out the window, and the results are “almost-truths” that are perhaps more dangerous than glaringly obvious lies.
There’s no doubt an unbeliever can come to Jesus no matter what their past may look like. But an error we often make is this act being the end. “Come as you are,” period. That’s it. There’s nothing left for us to do. We’ve made the right decision. Now, we can go back to living how we were. We often think that because we’ve “given” our lives to Jesus, because we believe He died and rose from the dead, we can live however we want without any consequences. After all, He defeated sin and death. Others may bring up Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” If Christ does all the work, if our salvation is through grace alone, if there’s nothing we, as humans, can do, why should we have to do anything at all?

Dear reader, it’s because of this fact, because of the truth found in Ephesians 2:8-9, that we want to do good, though not by our power but through His. Along with this, in the book of James it says, “Faith without works is dead.” We don’t pursue righteous living or strive to do good things because we’re trying to gain salvation and prove ourselves to God. It’s because we already have salvation through Christ that we are given a new desire to do right instead of wrong. But to be frank, we can’t even do that. As humans, we are quite literally incapable of doing any good by ourselves. It’s because of Jesus that we can do any good at all. It’s God working through us. He is merciful and so loving that He calls the broken and lost to bring glory to His name.
Thinking we need only to claim belief in God and continue to live in sin contradicts the very character of God. It brings to mind James 2:19, for even the demons believe, and they tremble. It takes more than belief. It takes relationship, obedience, and consistency. Claiming to be a Christian and believing in God is one thing, but it’s a whole other journey when one lives that proclamation out and fully submits to this confession by becoming more like Christ.

When we, as Christians, say, “Come as you are,” what do we mean? Because it shouldn’t be to influence people into believing God will love them no matter what. Indeed, nothing will separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39), not even our human failures. But there’s an act of obedience in our relationship with Jesus, one we must cling to even when we fail. Instead of telling non-believers that God will love them just as they are, we should say, “Come as you are, because God loves you regardless of what you’ve done and who you were. Now, transform into who He designed you to be.”
Regardless. That’s the keyword in this phrase, or at least it should be. God loves you, but not as you are. He says to come as you are, but He loves you regardless of who you are (a sinner, a liar, a thief, a killer, an adulterer, a deceiver). Is this not even more beautiful of a reality? God invites us into His arms regardless of what we’ve done and who we’ve become under the influence of the world and the lies of the Enemy. Yet—and don’t miss this—He also calls us to be transformed as we step into who He is. Our new identity.

There is so much more to our walk with Jesus than simply coming as we are. The moment we come and accept Him into our hearts is the moment we invite change to take place in our very souls until the shift in our attitude, character, heart, and actions is uncontainable and leaking out into everything we come in contact with. So, yes, do come as you are, but don’t stay as you are. God didn’t invite you to come to Him so you could remain unsatisfied, hopeless, lost, and broken. He called you to be transformed, redeemed, forgiven, and freed.
This doesn’t go to say that once you begin a life with Jesus, nothing complicated will ever happen to you ever again—quite the contrary. Tribulation is promised, even more so for the Christian, but so is Jesus. Don’t let these words deter you from diving deeper into your relationship with Him today. Let them bolster you closer to Him until all you desire is more of His unending love, miraculous peace, and everlasting hope. Coming to Jesus as broken, lost, and defeated souls was never meant to be the end of our walk with Him, but the beginning of a beautiful adventure in a life filled with good and evil and a Creator ever present by our sides. A relationship with Jesus is a lifelong journey where we are reformed and redeemed by the wonder-working power of our God. This is something to shout for joy over because our relationship with Jesus was designed to be and go deeper than we could’ve ever thought possible. The Creator of the universe, of the mountains and the seas, galaxies and stars, chose you as an individual to have a personal and intimate relationship with Him. A Friend like no other. We were never meant to stay as we were but to become more like Christ and share that truth with the world.

I challenge you, as well as myself, to take a leap of faith after coming to God as broken, destroyed sinners and invite Him into every area of our lives; to keep nothing hidden. Then you and I will watch as we transform from the inside out, and see how our circumstances around us shift in tandem with our heart and soul. We will breathe in that redemptive peace and those around us will see this new light inside of us and begin to hunger for it as well. God is known for His transformative power, and it is not limited to the flaws and failures of humanity.

Come as you are, but refuse to stay as you are. Leave the old behind, for behold, the new has come.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV