One Saturday afternoon many years ago, as I was painting a bedroom in our home, I received a call from Hank, the Pastor of two small congregations nearby.

At the time Hank called, I was up on a ladder, clad in an old teeshirt and ripped jeans, covered in paint, unshaven, and sweaty.

Did Hank ask how I looked? Did he ask what was going on in my life at that moment? Did he ask what kind of mood I was in, or whether I’d been reading my Bible lately, or if I was prepared to accept his call?

No, he did not. Hank called me because he had the flu and needed someone to preach for him the next day. He called me just as I was; all he wanted was for me to say,“Yes!”. He knew all the necessary changes in my appearance, attitude, and preparedness would come after the call.

And that’s the way God calls us. Jesus invites us, just as we are, to receive God’s salvation and to follow Him.

When Jesus called the first disciples, when He called Andrew and Peter, he in essence said, “Come As You Are”.

The first disciples were simple fishermen. They didn’t go out and buy new sandals and religious robes to make themselves worthy of the call. And they didn’t much change their behavior either.

Just like you and me, the disciples were sinners who needed grace and mercy. Jesus didn’t say, “Come, follow me, but first clean up your act.” He didn’t say, “Learn these scrolls by heart, pray three times a day, and don’t sin for six months, then come and follow me.”

Jesus simply said, “Come, as you are, and follow me.”

God calls us to His salvation just as we are. The changes in our life come afterwards.

Make sure we understand. God does not expect us to come to Him when we think we’re ready; when we think we’re “good enough”. The whole point of salvation is that we can never be “good enough”. We are dead in our sins.

So Jesus comes and invites us in. Out of the slimy pit, the muck and the mire of our lives, Jesus says, “Here’s a new life, a better way. Walk with me and I’ll show you, I’ll help you.”

All through the New Testament, when Jesus calls someone, he calls them where they are and how they are. He doesn’t require them to become perfect, he says ,“Come to me, and I will make you perfect.”

The disciples, Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, the lame, the blind, the leper – all were called into perfection; not from it.

You don’t have to pass a test to receive salvation, it is God who calls and God who makes perfect through the blood of Jesus the Christ.

And then the journey begins. Through study and prayer, worship and service, and walking each moment with the Savior,.we become more perfect; until that day when “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”.1 Corinthians 1:8.

So, if you’ve been waiting until just the right moment to accept God’s gift of salvation – wait no more.

NOW IS THE TIME!

If you think you need just a few more months of Bible study before you’re ready – wait no more.

NOW IS THE TIME!

If you are in confirmation class, and think you have to memorize all the correct answers before you can become a Christian – wait no more.

NOW IS THE TIME!

If there is something bad going on in your life, if something is broken, if you have fallen into a slimy pit and can’t get out – wait no more.

NOW IS THE TIME!

It is when God calls you that the time is right. And it’s always “Come As You Are”.

John said: “Behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.”

Paul wrote: “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the LIFE.”