"Just as I Am" was used as a hymn of invitation at the Billy Graham crusades. I can remember our family watching several of these when televised, in our living room. I noticed on one occasion that Mother was crying during this invitation, and asked her why. She said she was weeping with joy at watching so many people accept Christ as their Saviour.
The words were written by Charlotte Elliot and the tune by William B. Bradbury. When it was first published, it included the subheading: "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37).
The story behind the hymn:
In 1828, at the age of 32, Charlotte Elliott suffered a
serious illness that left her a semi-invalid. This caused depression, and
within the year she experienced a severe spiritual crisis. Swiss evangelist
Henry A. Cesàr Malan was visiting her family, and she confessed to him that she
didn’t know how to come to Christ. His famous response was, “Come to him just
as you are.” Her depression continued, however. One night, twelve years later,
she lay awake, distressed by her uselessness as an invalid, and by doubts of
her spiritual life. The next day, as she reflected on the previous night, she
decided she needed to meet her spiritual troubles head on and conquer them by
the grace of God. So she “gathered up in her soul the grand certainties, not of
her emotions, but of her salvation: her Lord, His power, His promise” (Lutheran
Hymnal Handbook). She took up pen and paper, and wrote down her own
“formulae of faith,” remembering those words of the visiting evangelist. In the
end she had the text “Just as I am, without one plea.” Her rule of faith has
since become a comfort to millions, and we join with all Christians who
experience doubt and uncertainty in their faith when we declare that Christ
invites us to come to Him, just as we are.
