Jesus loves me, this I know...

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so.” A phrase from a children’s song, and yet a profound truth. To know Jesus’ love. Ask a church going Christian if they believe that Jesus loves them and the overwhelming answer will surely be, “yes”. If this is the most elementary Christian teaching, then surely we must believe this! Right? If children in Sunday School are singing that they “know” Jesus loves them, might it be embarrassing for an adult to question it? So, we convince ourselves that we believe it. That we know it. The problem with this is that we often think of belief or knowing as an intellectual endeavor, and once you’ve got it, you’ve reached the end of it.

Biblically, however, believing and knowing are relational and experiential, not intellectual. We are not believing a fact; we are “knowing” a person, and “believing” (trusting) a person. Jesus. And just like getting to know any person, the “why they do what they do” is essential. Isn’t it the “why” that reveals someone’s heart and helps you trust them? God became human, and he died on a cross for us. That is the “what”. But the “why” is where the power is, and God’s “why” is his love, intense affection, and desire to be close to us.

Do we really believe this is God’s heart toward us?

A couple of years ago I was having coffee with a close friend and pastor, and I was sharing with him that I just don’t think people really believe that God loves them. He agreed and asked my opinion on how we can help people overcome this. I’m sure I had some opinion, although I don’t remember what it was. But looking back, what stands out to me is that while I had an awareness of a truth about others, I was overconfident in MY own belief. We all tend to look beyond what we view as elementary, but God was showing me that there was a depth and wonder in this “elementary” truth that I had never encountered. He was showing me that the only way to go forward was to go deeper into the trust of his affection.

A few months ago, I was speaking to a group of college students, and I asked them if they believed that God loved them. I wasn’t surprised that they all nodded their head, as if to say “obviously”. I told them that every feeling of insecurity, worry, anxiety, and fear that clung to them was evidence that they didn’t believe in his love as much as they thought they did. As I looked at their faces, it hit me. We are confident in our belief, and yet are simultaneously filled with worry, fear, insecurity, envy, and criticalness. Because of this duality, inherently what we are ACTUALLY believing in our nervous system, is that BELIEF in him is NOT able to heal us of these things! And so, I could see that the students expected me to motivate them to try harder. It’s what they wanted! How else could the duality be dealt with? Instead, I told them that God wasn’t disappointed in them. I told them that the cross is God’s eternal heart posture toward them. I told them to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus’ heart toward them. I shared this because belief in him IS enough to heal us of fear, worry, and insecurity. We just need to go deeper.

Last summer I attended a worship night at someone’s house and a young friend of mine, whom I deeply admire, was asked to preach. As he usually does, he was preaching about the love of God displayed on the cross and how we never graduate from this. He paused for a long time while looking intently at the audience, almost asking them with his eyes to let the truth sink in. In that moment I had a thought I felt like was from the Holy Spirit. “People don’t pray for what they need the most because they think they already have it”. Revelation of God’s love so that we would trust. My friend told me afterword that as he was preaching, he noticed that some were offended at the “simplicity” of his message. He said the Lord was telling him not to move on, and that if they were offended at this, then they would just have to be offended. So, he kept it simple. I learned a lot that evening.

We know that the gospel of John has the purpose of helping us believe (20:31). What’s interesting to me is that after Jesus’ first miracle in Cana, his glory was manifested, “and his disciples believed in him.” (2:11). Mission accomplished, they believed! And yet, as Jesus is on the verge of performing one of his last miracles, years later, raising Lazarus from the dead, he says to his disciples, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.” (11:14-15). He was still working to help them believe! And the night of his arrest, as his disciples confidently assert their belief, Jesus says to them, “Do you now believe?” (16:31), knowing that in a just a few hours they would practice their unbelief by abandoning him. One of the ways John helps us believe is by showing us that we don’t believe as much as we think we do! And that there is always more.

There is so much work to do as a Christian. And yet, there is a primary work. “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent”. (6:29 NLT). The secondary work is just overflow of the first. “Truly, Truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do”. (14:12)

I share this post because I believe that the overflow of belief in Jesus’ affection for us is enough to blow our minds. But if we focus on something else, we are turning away from our greatest need. Every sin we commit and every fear, worry or insecurity that we allow to linger is just the result of us not understanding the depth of his love. This means there are nonstop opportunities every day to repent into his love. The deeper we allow his love to penetrate our being the easier it is to believe WHO we are in his eyes (which is who we truly are). We are beloved sons and daughters of God. And we always act in accordance with who we believe we are. This is “being” Christian and not “doing” Christianity. We need less effort, less strategy, less hype, and more beholding God’s heart for us displayed on the cross. The Holy Spirit is here to help transform this truth from recipe to taste in our being if we are humble enough to ask.