“My Mother’s Faith”
2 Timothy 1:5
Like many of you, I was so blessed to have a mother with a strong and deep faith in Jesus Christ. When I reflect on her faith, and how she passed it on to me through her witness, here are the key elements of that faith that dwelled in her and now dwells in me. I’ve chosen to use some of the key phrases from “Jesus Loves Me.
This popular song has been loved among children and adults alike since it was written in 1860. Anna B. Warner wrote the original version and later David Rutherford McGuire added stanzas two and three. Anna’s sister Susan had asked her to write a song for a Sunday School teacher who wanted to cheer a dying boy. No wonder the lyrics have brought a smile to many children and assurance to adults! The song first appeared in a novel, Say and Seal. In 1862, William B. Bradbury composed the music and added the refrain.
I. “Jesus Loves Me! This I Know.”
I can remember my mother singing and humming this wonderful song from my earliest days. She taught me that Jesus loves me. I can’t remember a time when I did not know that truth.
Jesus loves you! The song “Jesus Loves Me” claims Christ’s devotion to me, but how can that be true? As a sinner, wouldn’t the holy God despise me? Thankfully, the song is not hopeful delusion but rather sound, biblical theology. While God hated my sin, His love for me compelled Him to give up His beloved Son. Jesus, God the Son, loved us so much He died a terrible death to pay the just penalty for our sins (John 3:16). As the lyrics say, Yes, Jesus loves me and He loves you.
II. “For the Bible Tells Me So.”
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:9
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Romans 8:35-39
My parents taught me that the Bible is God’s Word and that it is to be believed and can be trusted. They had staked their lives on that truth. Have you done so? Are you teaching your children what the Bible tells us?
III. “Jesus…..Died Heaven’s Gates to Open Wide.”
The Bible teaches clearly that Jesus is the only way to heaven. He died to open wide the Gates of Heaven to all who will believe. Have you walked through that gate?
IV. “If I Love Him When I Die He Will Take Me Home on High.”
Are you ready to go to heaven? You are if you have asked Jesus Christ to forgive you and come into your life. He will come and take you to be with Him one day. Are you ready for that day?
V. “Yes, Jesus Loves Me."
A. Nothing can change this truth. You can stake your life on it. You can live by it, and you can die by it.
B. Do you love Jesus?
Early in the 20th century, a Reporter asked the famous theologian, Karl Barth, to summarize his view of Church Doctrine. Now, Barth had completed 12 thick volumes on church doctrine, so he could have given an impressive Dissertation. He didn’t. Instead, he simply replied, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Dr. W.A. Criswell said he talked one time to a brilliant scholar. Criswell asked him, “How is it that these around you are infidels and atheists, but you, in the same intellectual world, are so Christian and so devout? How is that?” And his reply was one into which I could personally so deeply enter: “With all of the arguments and all of the forensics and all of the reasonings, I can never get away from the faith of my mother.”
The following are the rich lyrics to the song, “Jesus Loves Me,” which so profoundly sums up that faith - the faith that every mother and father should pass on to their children:
Jesus Loves Me - The Lyrics
“Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.
Refrain:
“Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
“Jesus loves me! This I know,
As He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
Saying, ‘Let them come to Me.’
Repeat Refrain
“Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live.
Repeat Refrain
“Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.
Repeat Refrain
“Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.
Repeat Refrain
(Note: this next stanza from the original is commonly omitted in hymnals)
“Jesus loves me! Loves me still,
Though I’m very weak and ill,
That I might from sin be free
Bled and died upon the tree.”
So on this Mother’s Day, a tribute for us whose mothers are in heaven; for us, words of love and praise and thanksgiving and memory. God bless, and forever to us, every prayer they prayed, every tear they shed, every sacrifice they made:
She always leaned to watch for us,
Anxious if we were late.
In winter, by the window,
In the summer, by the gate.
And though we mocked her tenderly
Who had such foolish care,
The long way home would seem more safe
Because she waited there.
Her thoughts were all so full of us.
She never could forget.
And so I think that where she is,
She must be waiting yet.
Waiting ’til we come home to her,
Anxious if we are late,
Watching from heaven’s window,
Leaning from heaven’s gate.
Thank God for My Mother’s Faith!
