Hymns of Childhood

Philip Bliss completes his hymn with the simple refrain:-

I am so glad that Jesus loves me,

Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me,

I am so glad that Jesus loves me,

Jesus loves even me.

In an iconic moment, Karl Barth the great 20th Century theologian said that the nursery lullaby "Jesus Loves Me" summarised his entire theological works. According to the best accounts of the incident, Karl Barth was at Rockefeller Chapel (really a Gothic cathedral!) on the campus of the University of Chicago during his lecture tour of the U.S. in 1962. After his lecture, during the Q & A time, a student asked Barth if he could summarise his whole life’s work in theology in a sentence. Barth allegedly said something like “Yes, I can. In the words of a song I learned at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” 

Bliss completes his poetic verse with expressing the glad reality of the love of Christ. Much like Paul in his letter to the Romans, where he expresses that nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus.

William Barclay said that "A gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms, and nothing in all religious history has done Christianity more harm than its connection with black clothes and long faces." And C.S. Lewis wrote, "It is not so much the joy of the Lord we are seeking as the Lord of joy Himself."

A Prayer

Thank you for loving us and caring for our needs as You do. For You know the plan ahead for us and know how to guide our steps to be in line with that plan. It’s not always easy to rejoice and remain hopeful in You when problems and circumstances arise, but we have to think back on the times we have been in similar positions and remember how You blessed us more than we thought possible. From big to little, we can count the blessings that You gave us before and discover they are more numerous than we ever thought possible. That is because You know our needs before we ask them, You know our heartaches before we have them, and You know what will grow us the most to be all we can be in Your eyes. So, let us rejoice and be glad as we give You our prayers, knowing when we least expect it, You will bring them into fruition. We give all of this to You in Jesus’s name.