sunday songs

I would guess a gazillion million people, both past and present, have heard or sung ‘Just As I Am’.  This hymn was written around 1835 by the poet and composer Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871).  This hymn became the invitational song of the Billy Graham Crusades, and many came forward and accepted Jesus as their Savior while the words were song and the music was played.

I don’t know where I read this about Charlotte Elliott, but the story is so precious:

When this poet was 46 years old, an elderly man approached her at a dinner party and asked if she was a Christian. She considered him rude and unkind, and that his question was inappropriate. After the man walked away, Charlotte could not get his question out of her mind so she went to find the man, and to ask how to become a Christian. That night she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Soon thereafter she wrote ‘Just As I Am’ as a testimony to her newfound faith, and as a tribute to the man who had told her that she could come to Christ, 'just as she was'. Over the remainder of her life Charlotte wrote 150 hymns.

‘Just As I Am’

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come..................