God sees us as we are – and He loves us. This is the great message
that comes to us from the hymn, “Just as I am.” Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God, didn’t wait for us to come to Him before He came to us. He
didn’t wait for us to live for Him before He died for us.
When we come to Jesus, in response to His coming to us, He doesn’t
leave us the way we were before we came to Him. He begins to change us.
Our coming to Jesus is the beginning of a journey. We’re travelling from
what we were without Christ to what we are becoming in Him.
“For now we see only a
reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1
Corinthians 13:12). These words of Paul can be understood as a
description of our journey of faith. We’ve only just begun to get to
know the Lord. We still have a long way to go.
In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul describes his own spiritual journey:
“Not that I
have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers
and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But
one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is
ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
In our journey with Christ, Paul teaches us that we are to travel
with humility and courage. In humility, we must never lose sight of our
own inadequacy – “Not that I have already obtained all of this, or have
already arrived at my goal.” In courage, we must “press on toward the
goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ
Jesus.” we do this in the firm conviction that the Lord’s working in us
and through us is not limited by our limitations. We are being shaped by
His grace – and His grace is greater than our sin.
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