“Come As You Are.”

And my brain immediately followed up the invitation with… “But Don’t Stay As You Came!” Isn’t that the true invitation? You are welcome, YES, but once you meet this God-man, Jesus, you will be forever changed.

For 5 or so years, we’ve actually had a backdoor welcome mat that displays that identical phrase—Come As You Are. The coconut fiber mat’s words have now faded, and that’s okay, because what I really want to invite you to is a home, a place, where you are always, always welcome as you are, but I hope you will leave my home changed—full of hope, peace, joy, light, healing, known, loved.

If you know me at all, you know that my morning tea time with Jesus is my favorite time of day. I crave God’s Word. His Word, the Bible, is powerful, ALIVE, relevant, fascinating, and so much more. I pray you leave this little page of thoughts hungry to discover Jesus for yourself. In the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), you walk along with Jesus and His disciples. These four books detail Jesus’ life on earth. And what’s remarkable is that in every encounter with Jesus, people left changed.

At the beginning of His 3-year ministry, Jesus launched in with an invitation to some gnarly, ordinary fishermen: “Follow me.” And the amazing thing is that they did, immediately, no questions asked. What didn’t happen was Jesus giving them a list of alterations to make beforehand. Just a simple invitation, “Come.” But He never intended for them to stay as they came; He taught them, grew them, matured them (maybe? Looking at you, Peter!), and literally loved them right to death. Then! The last words Jesus spoke to these gnarly, ordinary former fishermen were a commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). These men came as they were BUT they were forever changed. And, then, Jesus commissions them to go out and teach everyone how to be changed. My Jesus is so creative, so welcoming, and so, so good. Our pastor, CJ Johnson, often makes this statement that I appreciate immensely, “I’m just one beggar telling another beggar where I found the crumbs!” We come as we are, hungry, but leave changed—filled, strengthened, renewed!

Jesus, of course, being Bread of Life, is more than crumbs; He’s the whole loaf. There are so many layers of Jesus. The more time spent with Him, the more there is to discover. He didn’t just invite those fishermen. Jesus also invited tax collectors, accountants, political activists, and you.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29, ESV).

All who labor and are heavy laden—doesn’t every single one of us fit into this category? With current events, illnesses, financial struggles, broken relationships, aren’t we all burdened? And Jesus sweetly offers an invitation to come as we are, but leave changed. We don’t need to change or fix anything first, just come. He promised to do the rest, which is just that, to give us rest. Encountering Jesus changes everything. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Coming to Jesus Takes Us From:

Weariness to Rest

Death to Life

Darkness to Light

Blindness to Sight

Lost to Found

Sick to Healed

Lame to Walking

 Broken to Whole

Hungry to Filled

Weak to Strong

Sin-filled to Forgiven

Captive to Free

My favorite verse in the entire Bible is Romans 5:8, “—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (ESV). I didn’t have to change anything at all before He literally loved me all the way to death. My debt was paid, I only needed to “come.” But, the passage doesn’t end there! Verses 9-11 go on to describe our change, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (emphasis mine).

There’s a song by Maverick City Music and UPPERROOM that beautifully paints a poetic picture of how coming to Jesus as we are doesn’t leave us where we were. Take your time reading through the lyrics, then soak in them. Finally, listen to the song—it’s a masterpiece!

I Thank God

Maverick City Music & UPPERROOM, Jesse Cline, Maryanne George, Dante Brown, Aaron Moses, Enrique Holmes, and Chuck Butler

Wandering into the night

Wanting a place to hide

This weary soul, this bag of bones

I tried with all my might

But I just can’t win the fight

I’m slowly drifting

Oh, vagabond

And just when I ran out of road

I met a man I didn’t know

And He told me that I was not alone

He picked me up

He turned me around

And placed my feet on solid ground

I thank the Master

I thank the Savior

Because He healed my heart

And changed my name

Forever free, I am not the same

I thank the Master

I thank the Savior

I thank God

I cannot deny what I’ve seen

Got no choice but to believe

My doubts are burning

Like ashes in the wind

So, so long to my old friends

Burden and bitterness

You can just keep them moving

For you ain’t welcome here

From now ‘til I walk the streets of gold

I’ll sing of how You saved my soul

This wayward son has found his way back home

He picked me up

He turned me around

He placed my feet on solid ground

I thank the Master

I thank the Savior

Because He healed my heart

And changed my name

Forever free, I’m not the same

I thank the Master

I thank the Savior

I thank God

This song has a uniquely significant meaning to me that I’ll share in a future blog post, but for now, let’s just reflect on the masterful theology of our unchanging God who changes us! Stare at the line “and changed my name” for a while. Who were you before encountering Jesus? Who are you now? If you’ve not personally bumped into Jesus, who are you? Who would you like to become? Biblical names were (and are) significant, often closely tied to one’s character—for example, “Jacob” meant “deceiver,” and, wow, just take a look at his deceit-filled life! You can read all about it in Genesis 26-50. God is the ultimate people changer and name changer, and He’s brilliantly masterful in His naming of His children.

{*This blog post is the first in a series of Come As You Are…but Don’t Stay As You Came posts. Next blog will be focused on God as Name-Changer. Stay tuned!*}

Come as you are, but be forever changed!