No Better than a prostitute.

The story has often been told how years ago in London there was a large gathering of noted people. Amongst the invited guests was a famous preacher by the name of Caesar Milan. A young lady was there to entertain the group and she played and sang. She charmed and delighted everyone.

Afterwards the preacher went up to her and said, “I thought as I listened to you tonight, how tremendously the cause of Christ would be benefited if your talents were dedicated to His cause. You know young lady, you are as much a sinner in the sight of God as a drunkard in the ditch or a harlot on Scarlet street. But I am glad to tell you that the blood of Christ, God’s Son, can cleanse you from all sin.”

The young lady snapped at him, rebuking him for his presumption. Everyone returned to their homes. The young lady, also retired to her bed, but she could not sleep. The face of the preacher appeared in her mind and his words rang through her mind, “NO BETTER THAN A PROSTITUTE!”

At 2:00am she sprang from her bed and with pencil and paper, and tears streaming down her face Charlotte Elliott wrote the words to the poem that would become the hymn; “Just as I am.”

Elliott wrote about 150 hymns and many poems, some of which were printed anonymously, with Just As I Am probably the best known. Dr Billy Graham wrote that his team used this hymn in almost every one of their crusades, since it presented “the strongest possible Biblical basis for the call of Christ.” The historian of hymnody Kenneth Osbeck wrote that ‘Just As I Am had’ “touched more hearts and influenced more people for Christ than any other song ever written.” Christian writer Lorella Rouster called it “an amazing legacy for an invalid woman who suffered from depression and felt useless to God’s service.” Dr John D. Julian wrote: “Though weak and feeble in body, she possessed a strong imagination and a well-cultured and intellectual mind…. Her verse is characterized by tenderness of feeling, plaintive simplicity, deep devotion, and perfect rhythm. She sang for those in sickness and sorrow as very few others have ever done.”