Just as I am

It is funny how much songs can sometimes influence our lives....how they, with the simpliest of words and/or phrases, can either transport us instantly to a different time or place, or bring memories long forgotten, in an instantence to the front of our thoughts....or with me at least, can speak to your very soul. I love to write, and while I do not pretend to have the talent that some of our great writers have, I love nothing more than a well written song, especially those that take the most unusual thoughts and phrases and link them together in a way that lasts forever....one of my favorite songwriters is Train...I love the way he took the pain of losing his beloved mother and thru that penned "Drops of Jupiter"....true talent. So of course, it seems logical that God would speak to my spirit through the talents of such people as Chris Tomlin and Mercy Me, etc....here lately though I have had the song, "Beauty of the Cross", by Jonny Diaz, literally running over and over like an old record player that is stuck, in my mind. I find myself humming it and singing the words, or like yesterday while I was posting end of month figures, I suddenly realized I had been singing it "in my head"....it is a wonderful song, and I encourage all of you to at least read the lyrics. It is about how we are all sinnners without hope, until "the sinless King" died in our place, and the chorus is: "the beauty of the cross is there's One who has redeemed my soul, the beauty of the cross is that I am free and finally letting go, The beauty of the cross is that, YOUR grace has found me just as I am". Wow! How powerful are those simple words spoken in that way....why can't I have the talent to pen something like that? It got me to thinking....just as I am....just as I am....which of course you cannot hear those words and not think of the amazing Rev. Billy Graham. I was fortunate enough to hear him speak in Nashville a few years ago, and that is one thing he is known for saying, God meets us, and saves us, "just as we are". Not how we want to be, or ought to be, or even long to be. If we waited until that was the state of our lives, we wouldn't need Him. There is also another wonderful song that is popular right now, "Jesus, Friend of Sinners", and there is a line in that song, that I haven't been able to shake...."The world is drawn to You, yet they are tripping over me"....how easy we forget that we were met, "Just as we were",...we were that outcast, ...that leper...that sinner... without a hope. How easy we forget that in God's eyes we are the same, whether we grew up in church, and therefore had a pretty good life by this world's standards, meaning we really got by without committing the big sins....or we were not so fortunate....to Him, we are exactly the same...HOPELESS. How easy it is as "Christians", -(and I use that term very lightly)-to forget "by the Grace of God, go I", who are we to think that God loved us more, and therefore let us be born into the families were born in, or even the fact He by His grace, allowed us to be born into a country were we are free to believe how we choose. He allowed that for a reason, so we could then share that good news to those who weren't. I see posts on Facebook all the time, by those who are supposed to have the love of Christ within their hearts, and at least two of these people have been put into very unique positions to touch others less fortunate than themselves....to hand deliver the message that there is hope, there is love, there is a promise of something better, but yet cannot see past themselves long enough to deliver it. I wonder how God must feel about that...how that must break His heart....how quickly we forget. I am not meaning to sound as if I am passing judgement...God has put this onto my radar for a reason...He also has reached below the lowest of the low, and pulled me to Him...I don't want to forget that for an instance....I was watching a show on TLC today, and it was about mothers who are in prison and are pregnant...how easy would it be to point our "christian" fingers at them, and pass judgement...but the more I watched it, the more it literally shredded my heart. I could almost hear the spirit whispering to me....be careful...guard your heart....always seek to love and SEE people the way I do....I died for those girls....and yet they think they are worthless.....worthlesss.....what a powerful word....a word that I have even been guilty of throwing around casually.....Just as I am....Just as I am....Just as you were....worthless....you don't die for something you consider worthless......if He loved us enough to give all He had....don't we owe the respect of at least not looking down our noses at each other, but extending a hand, looking someone in the eye...no matter where they are....and telling them they are loved? I have heard it said....love covers a multitude of sins...I know it did mine. I pray that the next time I want to pass judgement, God reminds me of JUST AS I AM...and reminds me that even though I have His grace and His mercy....it isn't really that far from my sins to His forgiveness, and only "by the grace of God, go I."