Come to Me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
In my past, I could never accept the old song “Just as I am without one plea”. I always felt that I needed to clean up and then come to Jesus. That never happened because in order to be cleaned up, we must first come to Jesus. Every time I wanted to run to Jesus, there where people watching and judging what I was wearing, how I talked, what my mannerisms were like, so I just didn’t want to be hurt anymore. I rebelled against the church and all its hypocrisies and I paid a price for my rebellion, but God turned it all around for the good. I now know Him in a way that those who ridiculed me do not.
Jesus never said to clean yourself up and turn to God, He said to turn to God and God will clean you up. God’s Word does tell us to repent, and that we absolutely should, however, repentance doesn’t mean we got cleaned up. Repentance means we turned our back on our sin. The cleansing of our soul is not because we repented. The cleansing of our soul has all to do with the Blood of Jesus. If simply repenting was equated to salvation, then we could achieve salvation by ourselves by doing good and being compliant to the Law. The reason why Jesus shed His Blood was because mankind even at His best was not enough able to see the Father. It took a Blood Covenant and not just a blood Covenant but a Covenant with perfect Blood! Jesus was the One with perfect sinless Blood that would be sufficient for the cleansing of all men!
If you want to win someone into the Kingdom, don’t tell them what needs to change, tell them that Jesus loves them unchanged and that as the relationship grows with Him, that change will come. Many times we have to remember where we came from and the patience He has shown us in order for us to show the same love and patience to others. When reaching out to the world, let them know that it’s,”Just as I am without one plea”.
Make an effort today to reach out to all you come in contact with in love. Smile bigger, compliment and seek out the good in others and pay attention to those who are hurting. Someone needs you today, they need to see Jesus through you.
Pastor Michael Cannatello
