Just As I Am

“…as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no not one.’” (Romans 3:10)

A business man approached a poor farmer living in a little run down shack. It needed paint, there were boards missing, the picket fence had lost some slats and some of the windows were replaced with cardboard. The businessman wanted to buy the poor man’s house and surroundings and asked him to name a price. When he named the price, without hesitation the wealthy businessman agreed and gave the poor farmer some “earnest money,” a down payment and said, “I will give you the rest when I come to take possession.”

During the following days, the poor man, now feeling he had “taken” the “green-horn” businessman, decided he ought to fix up the place. So he painted and fixed up the place, making needed repairs. He would pay for the work when he got the full payment.

A month passed and the gentleman came to take possession.  After the deal was complete, from around the bend, there came trucks with bulldozers, track hoes and other earth moving equipment and started uprooting the trees, pushing down the old house and leveling the outbuildings. The farmer stood and looked astonished and asked, “What’s going on? I fixed up this old place to make you proud.” The businessman said, “I did not want it for what it was or for what you could make it. I wanted it for what I can make of it.”

When you come to Christ he doesn’t want you for what you are now or what you used to be or for what you can make yourself become. He wants you for what He can do for you and for what He can make you to become. When you repent and place your faith in Him He gives you the “earnest” of the Holy Spirit to live inside you. Come to Him, just as you are. Let Him make you over.