“When I was eighteen, my dad had a special week of
evangelistic meetings with guest speakers at our church in Ottawa. Each night
as the invitation was given to come forward for a public commitment to Christ,
I could hardly wait to stand with the congregation and sing "Just As I Am." I
could sing and comfort my heart, which was so convicted, rather than make that
public confession. I was satisfied just to sing and not go forward.
“On Friday night of that week, Dad quietly left the platform
and came to me. Placing his hand on my shoulder he said, ‘Tonight could be the
night, Son.’ That was the night I made public my commitment to Christ.”
Charlottee Elliott, author of this hymn, was born in 1789 at
Westfield Lodge in Brighton, England. Charlotte’s childhood was lived in a
circle of great refinement and piety. She was highly educated, and she developed
a great passion for music and art. At an early age, Charlotte began to be aware
of her sinful nature and of her need to resist sin's enticements.
Charlotte felt unworthy of God's Grace while growing up and
was incapable of facing a righteous and perfect God. She was continuously told
by different pastors at the many churches she visited to pray more, study the
Bible more and perform more noble deeds.
Charlotte was gifted as a portrait artist, and a writer of
verse. In her early thirties she suffered a serious illness that left her weak
and depressed. Because of her poor health, Charlotte had become rude and
irritable. Her disability had hardened her. "If God loved me," she said. "He
would not have treated me this way."
During her illness, a noted minister, Dr. Caesar Malan of
Switzerland, came to visit her. Noticing her depression, he asked if she had
peace with God. She resented the question and said she did not want to talk
about it.
A few days later she apologized to Dr Malan. She told him she
wanted to clean up some things in her life before becoming a Christian. Malan
looked at her and answered, “Come just as you are.” That was enough for
Charlotte Elliott, and she yielded herself to the Lord that day.
Fourteen years later, remembering those words spoken to her
by Caesar Malan, she wrote this simple hymn that has been used to touch the
hearts of millions who have also responded to Christ’s invitation to come just
as they are.
Charlotte was a member of the Church of England. In later
years, when she was not able to attend public worship, she wrote, "My
Bible is my church. It is always open, and there is my High Priest ever waiting
to receive me. There I have my confessional, my thanksgiving, my psalm of
praise, and a congregation of whom the world is not worthy – prophets, and
apostles, and martyrs, and confessors; in short, all I can want I find
there." Charlotte died in 1871.
Composer William Bradbury was born in 1816 in York, Maine,
where his father was the leader of a church choir. He had a brother, Edward
Bradbury. He was raised on his father’s farm, with rainy days spent in a shoe
shop, the custom in those days. He loved music.
Bradbury would spend his time studying and practicing such
music as he could find. In 1830 his parents moved to Boston, where he saw and
heard for the first time a piano and organ, as well as various other
instruments. The effect lead him to devote his life to the service of music.
By 1834, Bradbury was known as an organist. In 1840, he began
teaching in Brooklyn, New York. In 1847 he went to Germany, where he studied
harmony, composition, and vocal and instrumental music with the best masters.
He attended Lowell Mason’s singing classes, and later was
admitted into his celebrated Bowdoin Street church choir.
Mr. Bradbury was an excellent composer. His melodies have an
easy, natural flow, and his harmonies are simple and natural. Many of his
hymn-tunes and gospel songs, still in use, are among the best that
American writers have produced. He was unceasingly active, having edited
fifty-nine books of sacred and secular music, a large part of which were
his own work.
In 1854, he started the Bradbury Piano Company, with his
brother. Bradbury is best known as a composer and publisher of a series of
musical collections for choirs and schools.
In 1862, Bradbury found the poem "Jesus Loves Me." He wrote
the music and added the chorus: "Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus Loves me
..."
He died on January 7, 1868, in New Jersey at age 51. He had a
wife, four daughters and a son.
Biblehub.com, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: It becomes
children to be grateful. When we come to God as a Father, we must remember that
He is Lord of heaven and earth, which obliges us to come to Him with reverence
as to the sovereign Lord of all; yet with confidence, as one able to defend us
from evil, and to supply us with all good. Our blessed Lord added a remarkable
declaration, that the Father had delivered into His hands all power, authority,
and judgment. We are indebted to Christ for all the revelation we have of God
the Father's will and love, ever since Adam sinned.
Studylight.org, Bridgeway Bible Commentary: The Laodiceans
not only thought they had all they needed, but they believed their prosperity
had resulted from their spirituality. They were lacking in spirituality.
Because of their reliance on material things, they could not exercise genuine
faith in God. Nor could their lives witness the total satisfaction that Christ
brings. Christ introduces Himself as the one who is faithful, the true witness,
the creator with authority over all material things. He tells them plainly that
He finds their comfortable spiritual pride repulsive. He urges them to see
themselves as He sees them, spiritually poor, blind and naked. They must
realize that Christ alone can produce truly spiritual qualities in their lives,
and He can do this only when they turn from their sins and humbly seek His help.
Studylight.org, Contending for the Faith: Man has not yet
experienced the full blessings that come from being in fellowship with God. The
greatest blessing is the heavenly home promised to those who remain faithful.
Christians have an assured promise of reaching that home and living there in
eternity based upon their faith and obedience to Jesus Christ. We have
confidence in this promise because God who made it is faithful and will not
lie.
Enduringword.com, David Guzik: These are the words of a satisfied soul. The psalmist is satisfied with the portion received, and that portion is the LORD Himself . . . Spurgeon observed this was “…a broken sentence. The translators have mended it by insertions, but perhaps it would have been better to have left it alone, and then it would have appeared as an exclamation, – ‘My portion, O Lord!’ . . . The psalmist is saying that, like the Levites, he wants his portion of divine blessing to be God Himself since nothing is better and nothing else will ever fully satisfy his or anyone else’s heart. To possess God is truly to have everything."
Could it be that one little poem touched more lives than many sermons? It would not seem possible. But multiplication can be a miracle in God’s plan. After Charlotte’s death, at age 82, more than a thousand letters were discovered in her papers. They were from people around the world, expressing thankfulness that their lives had been redirected by this one hymn.
