Yes! Jesus loves me...and you and the whole world!
I was reviewing this morning’s Sunday School Lesson for the little ones I teach and the children’s hymn Jesus Loves Me, This I Know is a key part of the lesson (with some wording changed to reflect trusting Jesus). What a great song to teach this wonderful and treasured truth of God’s Word. I remember as a child singing this and loved the part when we sang, “For the Bible tells me so..”
Fast forward about 20 years and I became more Calvinistic (Dutch Reformed) and any time I sang it in my mind I couldn’t help but think of the doubts that would arise. Should I sing it “Jesus loves me…if I’m elect…for the Bible tells me, if I’m elect, so…) Assurance was definitely what I lacked.
Insert the Bible: For God so loved the world (Greek: Kosmos which means the whole world and not just the believing world as some reformed teach. Lutherans, however, take the word world to mean what it says and it says what it means…the whole world, you, I and all others included.)…
That truth has come back flooding my heart and my mind with the truth that God loves me…even me (as another childhood hymn teaches). The fact that God loved the world has been a huge theme on this blog lately because it just keeps overwhelming me. Those who are baptized Christians and believe can be absolutely assured that Jesus died for them, that He took all their sins away and that He cares for us in every single way imaginable.
While doubt sometimes still rises up in my mind; it takes a while to unlearn things you’ve been taught for decades, now, I remember that God loved the world so very much that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life and that in the waters of baptism all the promises of God became Yes and Amen. God placed His Name on me some 33 years ago this coming December and marked me out as His own in those blessed waters. Though He gave me saving faith just a few months prior (as an adult) the fullness of those baptismal promises were granted.
Does Jesus love you? Yes. How do I know? How can I make such a bold statement, one which my old theological system could not guarantee? Well, The Bible tells me so.
I invite you to sing it with me and believe that Jesus died for you, paying for all your sins, loving you because He loved the world and you, my friend, are very much a part of the world for whom He died.
Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus love me
The Bible tells me so.