Just As I Am (Hymn)

Just As I Am hymn focuses on themes of redemption, grace, and unconditional acceptance, expressing a sinner’s humble approach to God, seeking forgiveness and salvation just as they are. Key phrases include grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Just As I Am highlights how anyone can come to God as they are, without needing to fix themselves first, because God’s mercy is available to all.

STANZA 1
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

STANZA 2
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!

STANZA 3
Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt;
Fightings within, and fears without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

STANZA 4
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind;
Yes, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

STANZA 5
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

STANZA 6
Just as I am, Thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

STANZA 7
Just as I am, of that free love
the breadth, length, depth, and height to prove,
here for a season, then above,
O Lamb of God, I come.

Just As I am (1835) Words and Music by Elliott, Charlotte, 1789-1871 Public Domain. The hymn became widely known after its publication in the 1836 edition of The Invalid’s Hymn Book, a collection aimed at comforting those dealing with illness.

Come now, and let us reason together, Says the LORD, Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land. Isaiah 1:18-19

Come to Me, all you 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

Just As I Am is a PowerPoint Worship Song about coming to God ‘just as you are’. You may consider to add Just As I Am in your repertoire or worship line-up when the topics are about revival, commitment and Gospel events.

The Story Behind Just As I Am

Just As I Am” is one of the few hymns for which we know not only the author’s story but also the exact circumstances in which it was written. Charlotte Elliott of Brighton, England (1789–1871) was either born, or in early life had become, an invalid. Her life was a testimony to patient endurance in suffering, not only physical, but also emotional and spiritual. This was the context in which she wrote the hymn, as her nephew the Rev. Handley C. G. Moule recounted it in 1897:

But ill health still beset her . . . it often caused her the peculiar pain of a seeming uselessness in her life while the circle around her was full of unresting service-ableness for God. Such a time of trial marked the year 1834, when she was forty-five years old, and living in Westfield Lodge, Brighton. . . .

Her brother, the Rev. H. V. Elliott, had not long before conceived the plan of St. Mary’s Hall, at Brighton — a school designed to give, at nominal cost, a high education to the daughters of clergymen. . . . In aid of St. Mary’s Hall there was to be held a bazaar . . . Westfield Lodge was all astir; every member of the large circle was occupied morning and night in the preparations, with the one exception of the ailing sister Charlotte — as full of eager interest as any of them, but physically fit for nothing.