Free Stuff
Coming to God Just As You Are
by Dr. Mary Ann Diorio
Are you feeling depressed and discouraged today? Do you find yourself facing a seemingly impossible situation, and you don’t know which way to turn? Perhaps you’re in debt over your head with no apparent way to get out. Perhaps you just received a bad medical diagnosis. Perhaps you just found out that your teenage son is on drugs or your unmarried daughter is pregnant. Whatever your situation, I want to give you some good news. There is a solution to your problem, and that solution is found in Jesus Christ.
In the Bible, God’s manual for man, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life . . .” (John 14:6). Notice, in particular, the first part of Christ’s statement: “I am the Way.” This means that no matter what you’re facing in life, Jesus Christ is the way out of, over, or through your problem. He knows how to solve it. But because Jesus is such a gentleman, He won’t help you solve your problem unless you first ask Him to help you.
Now you may be thinking, “How can I ask Jesus to help me solve my problem when I’ve done such awful things in my life? Why would He even want to help the likes of me?” Well, here is some more good news. Jesus came to rescue those who have done awful things in their lives—and that includes all of us. As Paul the Apostle writes in the Book of Romans, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Did you get that? Christ died for us while we were still sinners. He didn’t wait until we were polished and spit-shined. No! He knew that we could never be polished and spit-shined unless He cleaned us up first. And how did He clean us up? By taking the filth of our sins onto His back and giving us His purity in return. That’s what happened when He went to the Cross. It’s called The Great Exchange. The Apostle Paul tells us that God “made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
So Jesus gave us His righteousness in exchange for our sin. But why did He do it? Because He loves us! Plain and simple! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
There it is in a nutshell! Jesus loves YOU! If you were the only person on earth, He would have died just for you. So don’t be afraid to come to Him with your problems. Come just as you are, with all your sin, your brokenness, your fear, your hopelessness. He promises that He will not turn you away: “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
And when you come to Him, be honest. Tell him that you’ve made a mess of things, that you’re at the end of your rope, that you need His help. Then ask Him to forgive you of all your sin and invite Him into your life to be your Savior and your Lord. When you do, you’ll begin seeing the way out of, over, or through your problem. You’ll begin to understand what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the Way.” ##
(Dr. Diorio is the author of Selling Yourself On You. To purchase this book, visit the Store on this website.)
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© 1999 by Mary Ann L. Diorio, Ph.D. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced in any way without the written permission of Dr. Mary Ann Diorio. Violators will be prosecuted. Copies, however, may be made for personal use, but please include all information at the end of the article as well.
