Posted on September 1, 2023September 19, 2023 What is the first song you learned? Mine was “Jesus Loves Me.” “Jesus loves me, this I know – For the Bible tells me so; Little ones to him belong – They are weak, but he is strong.” These are the first lines of a poem written by Anna Bartlett Warner in 1859. They first appeared in a novel written by her sister Susan Warner, in which the words were spoken as a comfort to a dying child. The poem was put to melody in 1862 by William Bradbury, who also added the chorus. “Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me – The Bible tells me so.” When I was a child, life was simple. Jesus loved me. The Bible said so and the Bible was true. And, my mother sang the song to me and she was just as true as the Bible. And then, Jesus began to love me less. At least that’s how I perceived it. As I grew older and realized I was a sinner, my deep down self began believing Jesus could not really love me fully. Jesus would forgive me, but surely he could not fully love me, a sinner. After all, from the time of Adam and Eve, God gets mad at sinners and punishes them. Wait…..wait……… Just this week, I was challenged to read the story of Adam and Eve again. There is no evidence God got mad at Adam and Eve, or that he loved them less when they sinned. My heart nearly exploded. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible actually does say that God loves me. Me, a sinner. My deep down self was wrong for all of these years. I don’t know why he does it, or how he does it. But Jesus loves me fully and I know it. The Bible tells me so.
