“Come as you are,” is a phrase we quote very often, and I’ve made it my point of duty to search the bible to find out if it really does say that. The answer is that the bible does not say that. Churches love to use this phrase to build members. Whenever I see or hear this phrase being used, I wonder if they are saying, “come and stay as you are. Don’t worry, God doesn’t care about your lifestyle, so come as you are.”
God does care about you, your soul and your lifestyle, and that’s the reason why He extends an invitation for you to come to him. He’s saying, “come to me for you actually cannot make yourself better.” So the “come as you are” invitation is really the Lord saying, come in your broken state, come with your dirty hands and feet, come with your torn garment, because by His blood He will make you clean. The Lord says, “Come now, let’s settle this.” “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” Isaiah 1:18
The LORD offered a repentant, humbled Judah true and complete cleansing from sin, and this is offered to you as well. It is your invitation to come to Him with your condition so that you can be transformed from deeply stained to completely white. In this passage, Isaiah says nothing about how this cleansing comes. But we know that it comes because Jesus took upon Himself our stain of sin, and God judged sin perfectly and completely in Jesus, so we can be accounted white as snow and as white as wool.
What tremendous hope there is in God’s forgiveness! We really can be clean from the stain of sin. Our good works can’t clean the stain. Our best intentions or promises can’t clean the stain. Our suffering or pain can’t clean the stain. Time can’t clean the stain. Death can’t clean the stain. Our pastors and deacons can’t clean the stain. Only the work of Jesus can make us clean and white as snow!
All ties with the past can be severed, and we can have a new beginning in Jesus Christ. The power of sin, the shame of sin, the guilt of sin, the domination of sin, the terror of sin, and the pain of sin can all be taken away in Jesus. But the first step to coming to God is an acceptance that you can’t change yourself. This spiritual fight is the only war that you will win by surrender! Everything that you have been through in your life can mould you into something greater. Though your sins are as scarlet, the Lord is willing to meet you on that ground.
So come now, as you are to God. If you should consider the greatness of God’s cleansing and pardon, it is all the more reason for you to come now. God wants the separation between you and He to be gone now. He doesn’t want you to continue on the path you’re currently on for another moment. He wants the best for you now! What will you do?
Angelisa is a Jesus enthusiast, Worship leader & Christian youth leader. She considers herself to be the old-fashioned type of girl who loves spicy food and belly bottom laughter. Among her passions are singing, working with children, and encouraging others.