Jesus Loves Me, This I Know...

The great, and sometimes controversial, Swiss theologian Karl Barth was once confronted by a reporter who asked him for a brief synopsis of his twelve-volume commentary on church doctrines (his unfinished work covered over 6-million words at the time of his death in 1968) .  In all profoundity, the great philosopher replied, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

If you were raised in church or have ever been to church or have ever been near a church, you proabably learned that song.  You can probably sing the rest of it without even thinking.  And yet, it is one of the most difficult truths for many of us to accept.

As I think about it now I realize that as I have attempted to grow and mature in my faith I have sometimes drifted away from this simple truth.  I've come to understand a lot of what the Bible teaches, I have a great deal of information in my head, I understand general and specific revelation, I've studied the positions of millenialism, I know all about the Calvinist-Arminian debate, I can tell you about double impartation.  From this knowledge I understand my failings as a human being.  I know that I was a slave to sin, that I was headed for certain death, but that the blood of Jesus Christ paid the ransom that I could never achieve.  I know that He was the sacrifice that met the need that the blood of rams and bulls could never accomplish.  But all this head knowledge means absolutely nothing without the understanding of "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

My problem is not that I don't belive those three short phrases, my problem is that I often refuse to allow them to stand on their own.  I am a pharisee.

Let me explain.  I believe that Jesus loves me, but I also know that because of His love for me my only proper response is to love and obey Him.  This leads me to add a lot of "if", "as long as", and  "when" statements to "Jesus loves me..."  Although it is the acceptance of His love that yeilds the fruits of obedience, I get this backwards and I find myself working to gain his love.  "If I read my Bible today, GOD will be pleased", "As long as I sing praise songs GOD will love me", or "When I pray then GOD will take care of me".  This is a logical line of thought.  It's so logical that it is how every other religion in the world basis their theology.  If you are good and do right then you will have a better place in heaven, or you will be reincarnated to a better position, or you'll be closer to GOD.  The problem in this line of thought is that it requires me to take care of myself, to clean myself up, to make myself righteous in order to gain the love and acceptance of the perfect creator, GOD.  This never works.  When we attempt to clean up our own mess all we end up doing in smearing it into the cracks - it's like trying to clean your kitchen floor with a dirty paper towel.

The point is not that I shouldn't read my Bible, or sing worship songs, pray, or try to be a better person, the point is that these things aren't the basis for GOD's love for me. 

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." This is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world.  The work is done.  Christ's blood is shed.  My salvation is secure.  None of this is by my being good enough to warrent GOD's love, but because GOD's love is enough to conquer death and sin.

When I find myself knee-deep in my self-imposed, works-based theology I have to pull myself back to the simplest of GOD's Truth.  I come back to the twelve words that remind me the work is done and that I am made righteous through Christ.  I sing what Karl Barth says encapsulates the entire Word of GOD:

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so..."