Jesus LOVES Me
“Jesus loves me - this I know,
For the Bible tells me so:”
~Anna Bartlett Warner*
Find a way to take a few moments each week to create space and prepare your heart personally and/or as a family. You could light a candle each week. You could gather around your Christmas tree, or around a Nativity set if you have one. Go outside and take in God’s beauty. May you be blessed this Advent season.
Scripture: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16 ESV
Devotional: Hope lights the room, pushing back darkness and fear, and giving peace the space to move in. As the cobwebs are swept away, love can bloom. Love. What comes to mind? A person? A song title? A verse? We are familiar with the timeless song of our childhood, ‘Jesus Loves Me.’ The first verse starts, “Jesus loves me this I know, For the Bible tells me so.” Do you believe this? Truly, deep done in your heart? Or do you just think of it as a simple, rhyming song that you can sing without much thought? This statement is true and is really that simple! The entire Bible is full of Christ’s love for us. We read in John 3:16 ESV “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” God gave with no guarantee we would accept this gift. He gave because He loved. Because He loves. He sent His only Son. He sent Him to be the final spotless sacrificial lamb. He sent Him to this earth to pay our debt. For me. For you. For the prodigal child. The annoying neighbor. The hard-to-deal-with coworker. He loves you. He loves me. He loves them. He loves us.
In a recent conversation with a family member, the comment was made that it is hard for them to not separate the love of Christ from their behavior. It’s taken them time to really understand that God’s love for them is the same on their worst day as it is on their best day. I am so thankful God’s love is not withheld on those days when I act way less than loving to others or even to Him.
How do you define love? We know by now that it goes way beyond a feeling. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 gives us a beautiful picture of what love, Christ’s love, looks like. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”
Don’t let this passage overwhelm you. View it as Christ speaking to you about the love He has for you. Love is messy and beautiful. Love is easy and it is hard. Love is a choice. Love is action. Love is a gift.
HE loves you.
He LOVES you.
He loves YOU.
More verses about Love:
John 3:16
Ephesians 3:19
Romans 8:35
1 Corinthians 13
Galatians 2:20
Prayer: Lord, May I receive Your perfect love. May I be changed by Your love for me. Help me truly understand that Your love for me does not depend on me. I receive this beautiful gift. Lord help me to love others as You have loved me.
~In Jesus Name, Amen
Songs: Jesus Loves Me by Christy Nockels; Only Love by Out of the Dust Music
Reflections: What is love to you? What does it look like? What does it feel like? How do you flesh out love to others? Do you receive love from others? Take some time to read 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 and imagine Jesus speaking His love over you.
Family Devotional Ideas:
1.)The YouVersion Bible app has Advent devotionals for children, teens and adults. Find one that fits you/child/teen/family.
2.)The Jesus Storybook Bible is my favorite for babies and young children. Take some time to start reading the story of Jesus’ birth. You could also help them spell the word love by using shaving cream on a table, a dry erase board, magnetic letters on the fridge. Or look for the word when you are out running errands or maybe on a Christmas ornament. You could even look up how to sign Love in ASL. You could also sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and talk about His love.
3.)If you have an elementary-aged child and/or teen, simply ask a question or two as you eat a meal or drive in the car. Here are a couple of questions, use the appropriate ones for your child(ren) “What does love mean to you?” “When do you feel most loved?” Another idea is to simply text them a question to ponder and include one of the verses above.
4.)Memorize Scripture. You can memorize one of the verses from this week’s devotional, or another that speaks to you. Encourage your entire family to work on it.
*When looking up information for ‘Jesus Loves Me’, I found that it was originally written as a poem by Anna Bartlett Warner to be included in a novel written by Anna’s sister in 1860. The hymn was then written by William Batchelder Bradbury in 1862.