夏洛特·艾略特（Charlotte Elliott）. Explore “Just As I Am, Without One Plea”: song information and official sources.
Redeeming grace · Freely given grace
Elliott had been chronically ill for years when she wrote this hymn. According to the account, her family were busy raising funds for a school while she lay unable to help, overwhelmed by her sense of uselessness. The hymn grew from that helplessness: coming as one is, with no goodness to plead, without first being required to make oneself presentable. Each stanza ends with the same repeated response of coming, almost stubbornly, because it confronts precisely the thought that keeps people away: I will come once I am better. The first stanza draws on John 6:37, Jesus' promise not to reject anyone who comes to him. The hymn later became a regular invitation at evangelistic meetings, but it belongs to more than seekers. Long-standing believers also often need to come again just as they are.
Evangelistic meetings and invitations to respond; reflection before Communion; personal prayer when spiritually low.