Come to Jesus as you are

The idea that we have to get our lives "cleaned up" before coming to Jesus is very false. We sometimes believe that changing our bad habits or turning away from our sinful lifestyles is a prerequisite for salvation yet it is the other way round. Living as changed people is only possible when we allow Jesus into our lives because it is only Him that can truly change us; we can't do it on our own. So let's stop feeling unworthy or saying things like "I can't pray to God or I can't go to church because I'm so full of sin or because I partied too hard last night or because I've been sleeping around or because I'm a hypocrite and blah blah blah. The truth is Jesus doesn't care, he wants us to come to Him just as we are. Jesus did not come to call "those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent" (Luke 5:32) and it is through Jesus that we are made righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Let's take a look at two stories from the bible to illustrate this concept of coming to Jesus as we are. The first is the story of a prostitute taken from Luke 7:36-39. In this story, Jesus was invited to dinner by one of the teachers of religious law and the "town prostitute" heard that Jesus was around so she came to meet Jesus. She laid at His feet pouring expensive perfume on them, weeping all over them, and then drying them with her hair. I'm sure we can imagine what could have been going on in the mind of the religious law teacher who had invited Jesus to dinner. Quoting the man's thoughts from Luke 7:39, here it is: "If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!". The truth is that Jesus knew exactly what kind of woman she was but because He is so rich in love and mercy, He didn't chase her away but forgave her sins (Luke 7:48). One thing we have to learn from this woman is coming into God's presence with boldness. When this woman came to Jesus, she wasn't bothered about what other people were thinking. She knew she was a sinner but she didn't let that hold her back. She still went to meet Jesus knowing he was the only one who truly loved her and who could forgive her of her sins.

The second story is the parable of the prodigal son taken from Luke 15:11-32. A father had two sons and one day the younger one went to ask his father for his portion of the father's assets. His father gave it to him and the boy left home for a distant country and since there was no one there to watch over him, he squandered all his money on lavish living. One day, there was great famine in the country and the boy got so hungry that he wanted to eat pigs' food. But he later came to his senses and wondered why he was suffering when even slaves at his father's house had three square meals to eat. So he decided he was going to go back home, apologize to his father for squandering his wealth and ask him to become one of his servants (since he thought the father won't take him back). When the father saw his son approaching, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. And while the son was giving his speech about how he doesn't deserve to be a son and how he doesn't mind becoming a servant, his father called for his servants to get his son new clothes and ordered them to prepare a feast. Not quite the reaction we would get from our own parents, isn't it? lol

But what I would like to draw out from these two stories is that Jesus is so loving and merciful. He doesn't treat us according to our sins and punish us like we deserve. Even when we go astray, He is always ready to accept us when we come back to Him. So let's stop pulling away from Him because we think we're unworthy of His love. It is by God's grace that we have been saved so there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn God's love (Ephesians 2:8). He loves us just as we are but he also loves us too much to leave us the way we are. This is why we must continually come to Jesus and rely on his power and grace to help us become better people. It is when we come to Jesus that we realize our identity in Him and begin to act accordingly. Yes, we fall short of God's standards from time to time but that doesn't change our identity as "the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus" (Philippians 3:9). Being the righteousness of God doesn't mean we can continue living in sin but that because we know that's who we are, we act accordingly.