Don't discredit the songs we sing and the poems we memorize. These latch onto our minds like barnacles. Don't underestimate the lyrics of a song to teach even if the song is for children. Too often we think that we move beyond the lyrics of our Sunday School room and on to the songs of "adult" worship never to look back. But friends, take time to look back at the theology of our little songs.
Just over two years ago on a Palm Sunday I spent time with my wife's Grandpa John on his deathbed. At one point he starting faintly singing "Jesus Loves Me" and I'll never forget it. John was wise enough to know that he didn't graduate from the words of "Jesus Loves Me", rather he held on to those lyrics tightly in his last hours.
"Jesus Loves Me" is just one of the wonderful songs we teach our children. Take time to think about the great truth being song in just the one verse most of us have memorized forever.
"Jesus loves me!"
"The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing." Zephaniah 3:17
"But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions... it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5
This is one of the greatest facts in the universe. Jesus loves us! The God of all the universe, the God of galaxies and sub-atomic particles, the God of the tangible and the intangible, loves us. What a great truth to sing.
"This I know, for the Bible tells me so."
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," 2 Timothy 3:16
This song teaching us that the inerrant Bible is our source of knowable Truth. We know Jesus loves us because the Bible tells us so. We can trust the Bible.
"Little ones to Him belong."
"Know that the LORD is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture." Psalm 100:3
"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.... Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have give me because you loved me before the creation of the wold" John 17:6, 24
"You are not your own; you were bought at a price." 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a
Sing that you belong to God and no one can snatch you out of His hand. He prizes us as His chosen possession.
"They are weak but He is strong."
"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-11
Little children aren't the only ones who need to sing reminders that they are weak. A thirty year old is no closer to God's strength than a three year old. We all need to learn to rejoice in the strength of our God and not our own supposed power.
"Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so."
I love how kids sing this chorus. They shout it, they scream it, they wail it as loudly as they can. And they should. What greater truth is there? What is more worth yelling than, YES, JESUS LOVES ME!
Next time you hear the little people at your church singing this, I suggest you sing along. The next time your kiddos sing this in the car, join them. There is great truth in many of our songs. Bury that truth in your heart and let it rise to the top in those moments you need it.
Remember, Jesus loves you today.
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