Come As You Are

I haven’t shared too much lately from a personal perspective but I wanted to share some thoughts that have been churning around in my heart recently.

I’ll be honest… I’ve been a little grumpy lately.  Things have been hectic the last few months and I have been thrown into some situations where I’ve been annoyed by some people.

We all get annoyed sometimes.  And I certainly annoy other people as well.

I know that my annoyance isn’t some righteous annoyance that comes from being around annoying people all the time.  There is no such thing as a righteous annoyance.

I mean, it’s normal, and human to get annoyed with others from time to time… but it isn’t righteous.

There is a such thing as a righteous acceptance.  And righteous love.

Lately I’ve been hearing God whisper into my heart, “Take them as they are.”

It has had me turning the phrase “come as you are” over and over again in my head and heart.  To be honest, I think I’ve mostly thought of this as it pertains to the church and how we should welcome people to come as they are and how Christ invites us to come as we are, even in our sinful state (Matthew 11;28, Isaiah 1:18, etc).

But I think it applies to me too.  And to the annoying people.  I should invite them to come as they are into my life.  Even if they are really annoying, or selfish, or terrible in many ways.

There’s a way to invite them in, a way to love them… even if they never change… through Jesus I can love them.  And I can fix my eyes on Him and pray for him to mold my heart into one that’s more like His.