Any kid that's been in Sunday school or grown up in a Christian home or had a Jesus loving relative, knows the song, Jesus Loves Me. Just mentioning it now I'm sure it's stuck in your head. Do you still remember the lyrics?
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 loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
Now, my mom changed a line in this song because she didn't want us believing that we're weak as children. So I always knew the song this way;
Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong,
They are His and He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
Personally I think my mom's version is better and more positive. Anyway, I remember this song well. Probably because I heard it so much in Sunday school and on a CD that played in the car. So this song is REALLY engrained in my mind. And you know what? To my knowledge and remembrance, I've never doubted that Jesus loves me.
You see, music, lyrics, spoken or sung words, have a way of sticking in your mind. Both good and bad. I think that's why this is one of the first songs kids learn in Sunday school or at home. Because what better message to have engrained in your mind than Jesus' love for you?
Any of us that have worked with or have children know that once you teach them a song or word, you're going to hear it for a looooong time. Over and over, that's what they're going to be singing, saying, or asking to be played on repeat so they can sing along. And when it pertains to a song like Jesus Loves Me, what an awesome thing for your child to keep confessing! Over and over they say or sing, Jesus loves me! That's awesome!
Now, somewhere along the way between childhood and adulthood, we stop singing that tune. We stop verbally confessing that beautiful truth. I don't know about y'all, but unless I could relive my teenage years with the knowledge and wisdom I have now, I wouldn't want to do it again. I was bullied in my teenage years and almost went to hear Jesus say He loves me in person. (Thank you, God, that You stopped me.) I think some of the most unpleasant times are during teenagehood. And I think some of the most hurtful words are spoken during teenagehood. When a child is young, you would consider them vulnerable because they're small and don't know the dangers of the world yet, correct? Do you think children stop being vulnerable just because they hit their teens? Absolutely not! If anything, they're more vulnerable because they're beginning to step out into the world without you guarding them. You may say, 'oh I've taught them enough', 'they know who they are', 'they'll make the right choices', but how do you know that? Up until then, you were teaching a small child. Teenagers are just as impressionable as small children, except now you need to be more focused on if they're believing the RIGHT impression.
Remember how this whole thing started? 'Jesus Loves Me'. Is your teenager still singing that song and confessing that truth? Your answer is likely, no. I know that I don't remember singing that song as a teenager. I still knew that Jesus loves me, but I was more focused on the words that my bullies were speaking into me. 'You're not good enough', was what I heard the most. And you know what? Because I heard those words spoken so often, I believed them. I saw those words as truth. So how did we get from singing, 'Jesus Loves Me', to saying, 'I'm not good enough'? If you've been in a situation like I was, you were and may still be, saying and believing those words in your adult life. So now that you're not a child anymore, does Jesus still love you? Of course! How do you know? It's in the song, 'The Bible tells me so!'.
Now, if you need to sing a Sunday school song over and over until it gets engrained in your head that Jesus loves you, sing it on repeat forever, my friend! Because you are confessing a truth into your life that will never change!
Romans 8:35, 37-39 NLT, "Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I hope this encourages you today. Thanks for reading.
-skort94/Danielle
