Just As I Am – Billy Graham
Introduction to Just As I Am and Billy Graham
Billy Graham is the reason I am a Christian today.
I’ve written two posts over the past year about Billy Graham and how his life and ministry has intersected with mine.
Now I’d like to add another feature or factor in the story.
The hymn Just As I Am has been played and sung to over 2 billion people through the face-to-face crusade and television ministry of Billy Graham.
I am one of those people. You can get the details of how I met Billy Graham and Jesus Christ in my earlier post at the link below.
In this post I want to focus on the hymn that Billy Graham used for his ministry at the point when he asked people to come forward and give their hearts and lives to Christ – Just As I Am.
Just As I Am – The Story Behind the Hymn
per Wikipedia
Charlotte Elliott
Just As I Am is a well-known hymn, written by Charlotte Elliott in 1835, first appearing in the Christian Remembrancer, of which Elliott became the editor in 1836. The final verse is taken from Elliott’s Hours of Sorrow Cheered and Comforted (1836).[1]
History
Charlotte Elliot wrote this song about how to find salvation through Christ. It has been used by many as the call to the altar at the close of services, as it brings a quiet simple message of sin, forgiveness, and salvation to all that turn from sin and trust in Jesus.
John Brownlie[5] described the hymn’s story in his book The Hymns and Hymn Writers of the Church Hymnary:[6] Charlotte’s brother, the Rev. H. V. Elliott planned to hold a charity bazaar designed to give, at a nominal cost, a high education to the daughters of clergymen supported by St Mary Church:
The night before the bazaar she was kept wakeful by distressing thoughts of her apparent uselessness ; and these thoughts passed by a transition easy to imagine into a spiritual conflict, till she questioned the reality of her whole spiritual life, and wondered whether it were anything better after all than an illusion of the emotions, an illusion ready to be sorrowfully dispelled. The next day, the busy day of the bazaar, she lay upon her sofa in that most pleasant boudoir set apart for her in Westfield Lodge, ever a dear resort to her friends.” The troubles of the night came back upon her with such force that she felt they must be met and conquered in the grace of God. She gathered up in her soul the great certainties, not of her emotions, but of her salvation : her Lord, His power, His promise. And taking pen and paper from the table she deliberately set down in writing, for her own comfort, “the formulae of her faith.” Hers was a heart which always tended to express its depths in verse. So in verse she restated to herself the Gospel of pardon, peace, and heaven. “Probably without difficulty or long pause” she wrote the hymn, getting comfort by thus definitely “recollecting” the eternity of the Rock beneath her feet. There, then, always, not only for some past moment, but ” even now ” she was accepted in the Beloved “Just as I am.”
The “poem” Charlotte wrote out was this:
Just As I Am
Just as I am – without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
-O Lamb of God, I come!Just as I am – and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
-O Lamb of God, I come!Just as I am – though toss’d about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
-O Lamb of God, I come!Just as I am – poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,
-O Lamb of God, I come!Just as I am – Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
-O Lamb of God, I come!Just as I am – Thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
-O Lamb of God, I come!Just as I am – of that free love
The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove,
Here for a season, then above,
-O Lamb of God, I come!
Billy Graham Tribute and Just As I Am
Cliff Barrows, Billy Graham, George Beverly Shea
Billy Graham was led to give his heart and life to Jesus Christ in 1934 in an evangelistic crusade near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina at the age of fifteen years. The evangelist was a preacher named Mordecai Ham and the music that was played when the alter call was given was, of course, Just As I Am.
So Billy Graham had two strong reasons to use this hymn in his later ministry: his personal experience and the then fairly widespread use of the hymn in evangelistic services both here in the USA and abroad. Little did he know the scope of his future ministry or the value of the hymn in it.
When Billy Wrote his autobiography in 1997, guess what he chose for a title… Just As I Am.
In August 2012, The Gaithers, Bill and Gloria, and a group of gospel singers traveled to North Carolina to pay tribute to Billy Graham and his ministry team that included Cliff Barrows, Crusade Choir Director, and George Beverly Shea, Crusade soloist.
The video of the Just As I Am portion of their time there is as powerful as the singing or even humming or instrumental form of the great hymn in the countless services in churches and evangelistic crusades worldwide over the years.
Let it speak to you as it did to me in 1963.
Gaither Tribute to Billy Graham 2012
Did it speak to you?
I know I need some Kleenex!
Tell us. Leave a comment. Its easy.
Links
Here are the links to my two earlier Billy Graham related posts plus a humorous one about Billy.
Faith Stories You Won’t Forget Series – Billy Graham, The Ripple Effect and Me
Billy Graham’s Einstein Speech
Etc.
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http://dickstannard.com/2016/10/03/just-as-i-am-billy-graham/
Thanks.
I appreciate it.
