Jesus loves me, this I know! 

If you have grown up in the church, you probably know the song “Jesus Loves me”

And the sad thing is that most people dismiss it as only a children’s song. But there is so much truth and power to this song! Armed with knowledge of scripture, you could use this song to minister to unbelievers. This song has such powerful reminders! Throughout this article, we will look through the song and break down every line. 

“Jesus loves me, this I know!” – In my mind, when I read this phrase, I see a clear way to spread the Gospel! There’s also a great reminder to the believers in just the first three words. Sometimes we need to be reminded that Jesus does love us. But let’s look at this a different way now. Let me start with a question: what do you do if you love someone? You want to spend time with them! You want to hear from them! Their joy, their pain, their grief. And if you truly love and care about them, you’ll be willing to make sacrifices for them. To those who need to hear this: Friend, Jesus loves you. He wants to hear from you. Your joys, pains, and griefs. This isn’t a ruse. This is intentional love. You know why it’s intentional? Because Jesus sacrificed Himself for you, on a cross. Now, let me ask: do you love Jesus?

For a loving relationship to flourish, the love needs to flow both ways. And if you’re unsure how to begin loving Him, look at the next part of Jesus Loves Me, “This I know!” Belief! That’s the way to start! Believing in His intentional loving sacrifice on the cross, and that he died for you. And then accepting His free gift of eternal life through belief. 

However, this is your choice. “This I know”.                                                                   We must make the choice. It’s your belief…not your friends, your parents, or pastor. This decision must come from you, and your personal belief and love for Jesus. So, are you ready to love Jesus back? He’s already set His cards of love on the table and is waiting for you to play yours. What cards will you play?                                                                                                

Jesus loves me, this I know!   (John 3:16)

For the Bible tells me so! 

Continuing to look at the classic children’s song, Jesus loves me, we come to this next line: “For the Bible tells me so!” – When looking at the first line of the song, we saw the ways to show love and saw Jesus’s ultimate example. One of the ways listed to show love was getting to know them. 

This step is key in any relationship, and Jesus knew it! So He wrote a book about Himself for us! In this book we can read all about His work before, during, and after His life on earth. Every time we read this book, we should be trying to learn more about Jesus and His characteristics. 

This book, of course, is the Bible! And in the Bible, Jesus tells us a way to tell Him about ourselves. Jesus tells us about prayer! Our direct communication to Himself!! Now, Jesus, being all-knowing, already knows what’s going on in our lives. But that doesn’t stop Him from wanting to hear from us! He’s the ultimate friend, and wants to hear our joys, pains, and griefs, even if He already knows. He wants to help us trust in Him and get to know him better as we walk through the trials of life. Jesus not only teaches us how to talk to Him through the Bible, He tells us so much about Himself! 

We learn about His attributes, about His many names, about how He’s loved and rescued others! And about His plan and sacrifice to save the world! He also lays out the guidelines for our relationship and what he expects from us. He doesn’t want our love to be divided. He doesn’t want us to disrespect His name. And He doesn’t want us to hurt those whom He loves. But Jesus knows we’re not perfect. He knows we’re going to mess up. He knows we’ll fail Him. 

Yet He loves us anyway!! He sacrificed Himself knowing we would fail Him. He loves us so much that He forgives us of every mess-up and mistake we’ll ever make.  We can’t use that as an excuse, though! 

Jesus’s grace is endless, yes! But that does not give us grounds to abuse it. Jesus loves us, and we can show our love and appreciation to Him by following His guidelines and seeing He’s showing His love for us by having them in place!   

Jesus loves me, this I know!                                                                                          For the Bible tells me so!   (Psalm 23) 

Little ones to Him belong 

Now on the third section of the song Jesus loves me, we come across what might be the most comforting part of the song:  “Little ones to Him belong”.                      We’ve been looking at this song through the lenses of a loving friendship. We’ve seen how Jesus has shown His love for us, and how we can get to know Him better. And now we’ll be able to see that He truly cares about us by always being there. 

Children, when they’re unsure or scared of something, always go running back to their parents. They want to feel the comforting touch, to hear the soothing words of “everything’s ok”. Children also love to go running to their parents in excitement! To show them a new toy, or cool new rock, or to tell them about the party invitation they got. They want to hear the excitement in their parents’ voices. They want them to feel just as hyped as they are! Through uncertainty and excitement, children always run to those who they trust most, and who can help them through their emotions. Both good and bad. 

Jesus is that parental figure in our relationship with Him! He wants us to run to Him when we’re uncertain about something. Jesus wants to calm our fears. He knows our emotions. We read in the gospel accounts that Jesus was asking God for any way but the cross. “Let this cup pass from me” he pleads in the garden. He most certainly was afraid, and unsure about how everything would play out. So He can relate to our fears. 

Jesus wants to celebrate and be excited with us as well! He wants to be part of the excitement we feel over everyday life. He wants to be in every aspect of our lives.  He is the God of all comfort. He is the God of Peace. The God of Love. The God of Joy. And he wants to be in a loving relationship with us. He’s been meeting all the “criteria.” He’s proven that He loves us so much, and continues to offer Himself for us. What a great God and Friend He is! And praise God that we belong to Him. Through our loving relationship with Jesus, we are eternally held in His loving hands. 

Jesus loves me, this I know.                                                                                            For the Bible tells me so!                                                                                                 Little ones to Him belong. (Philippians 4:6-7)

They are weak, but He is strong! 

Finishing up this brief look into the song “Jesus loves me”, we come to the conclusion of the first verse: “They are weak, but He is strong.”                               In the section just before this, we saw how our loving Savior and Friend, Jesus, is a comfort in times of trouble. This verse tells us why! We are weak without Jesus. There are the popular sayings of “safety in numbers” and “two are better than one.” And when Jesus is our companion, we need not worry about what could be around the next bend. 

Alone, we can do nothing. Alone, we have no salvation, no assurance of peace in tribulation, and absolutely no life after death. But! If we’ve been following the instructions of this song, we shouldn’t be alone. We should be in a loving relationship with the one who will never leave us. The one who is a constant comfort in all things. 

There is a lot of hate and evil in this world, and there is even more hate towards the Christians. Those who are different from “the norm.” As Servants of Christ, we are called to “be not conformed to this world” and to “be watchful! The devil is prowling like a lion, looking for someone to devour!” (1 Peter 5:8)

There will be times that all seems lost. When there looks to be no end to the hurt. Those things couldn’t get worse. They can only get better, and that is because we have a firm rock to stand on. We have a strong tower in which we can take refuge. And we have a good shepherd who will lead us according to His will. This person is Jesus, and He loves us! 

Jesus loves me, this I know.                                                                                           For the Bible tells me so!                                                                                Little ones to Him belong.                  They are weak, but He is strong!  (John 3:16, Psalm 23, Philippians 4:6-7, Proverbs 18:10.) 

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