Jesus Loves Me This I Know
By Karen D’Amore
"I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."
Jeremiah 31:1
“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” As a child I sang this familiar song each week in Sunday school. Beyond singing about God’s love or the Bible telling me of God’s love, love was nothing more then a word to me. Growing up in a home where love was not openly expressed or professed, my perception of love was skewed. Love, as I knew it, was based on self-effort and won through perfection. Well aware of my imperfections, my defeated journey to earn love followed me deep into adulthood.
Paul wrote: “And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God (Ephesians 3:17-19).”
Transformed by brokenness and surrender to Jesus, this Scripture came to life in my heart a number of years ago. Knowing me better then I knew myself, Jesus understood my struggle to comprehend love. In His own intimate way, God divinely orchestrated circumstances, answering a specific silent prayer I had hesitated to ask Him. A request significant only to me, God’s response would forever transform my perception of His love. Meeting me in a small dark corner of my heart, the truth of God’s love became real to me. Healing flooded the inner core of my heart, enabling me to fully receive God’s love and eventually extend it to others. Trust in God’s love, shaped by a pivotal prayer answered, allowed Jesus to take up residency in my whole heart.
It’s one thing to hear and believe that Jesus loves us, but we can also experience the length, width, height and depth of His love. Then we can believe and sing: “Jesus loves me this I know for He has shown me so.” How about you…can we sing it together in three-part harmony?
GOING DEEPER:
1. Do you struggle to comprehend God’s love? Ask Him to show you His love in a personal way that will deepen your trust.
FURTHER READING:
1 John 4:7-8; Psalm 32:10, 36:7; Romans 8:39
Karen is married to Dan and is a retired police officer who is currently a Nail Technician at Craig Berns Salon. She is the administrator for Oakwood’s Tuesday a.m. Bible Study and a volunteer at the Wildlife In Need Center.
