Songs, Bibles, and Love

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

This was the first I learned about Jesus’s love—a song sung by children in Virginia, U.S., where I grew up. In my home, neither Jesus nor the Bible was taught or mentioned. As I grew older, the Bible taught me much more about Christ’s love, because I wanted to learn.

Relating

I’ve always had a particular affection for the woman who had been ill for 12 years, who touched the Savior’s robe and was healed (Mark 5:28). I would have been like her. I’m not good at pushing through or standing out in crowds. And I hate to trouble people, especially those I don’t know, who have no reason to notice or be concerned with me.

Unlike Jairus’ daughter, I wouldn’t have had anxious parents surrounding me or a house full of noisy mourners to add to the general uproar. I don’t have friends who would have cut away part of the roof of a building to lower a bed down to get the Savior’s attention and involvement.

Like the woman who was healed, I would have been afraid to come forward when the Savior asked who had touched His robe; I would have identified myself timidly, but I would have done so because He asked. He did not ask her to come forward for a confession, but for a blessing.

She needed to hear Him call her “daughter” and to understand that He recognized her great faith, which had enabled her healing. She needed to feel Christ’s love personally and individually.

Extending

Susan Porter, general primary president, told an international gathering (2022), “When you know and understand how completely you are loved as a child of God, it changes everything.”

Christ knew and loved what might be called the “common people.”  He fed 5,000 of them on one occasion and 4,000 on another. He healed a blind man who called so loudly that the crowd tried to hush him up.  And gently he healed the long-time sufferer at Bathesda.

He raised a desperate widow’s son as well as his friend Lazarus from the dead. On the American continent he asked that all of the sick and suffering be brought to Him; all felt Christ’s love as he healed them with His gentle loving touch.

Christ never asked for a referral or a recommendation. A few of those He healed had some prominence (Jairus’ daughter, the centurian’s servant), but most had not; prominence and position were never issues.

Connecting

I have learned ways to connect with Christ, and I am profoundly grateful that my children have also learned. One of my daughters and her friends used to climb a plum tree in our yard and sing primary songs. When I think of my early song-lesson, I’m glad these children had more artful songs.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf (2000) has assured us that people today are just as important and just as loved as those the Savior has loved and blessed in the past. The Savior’s hand is stretched out to those who cry out to Him today, as it was for those who could see it physically.

Christ loves and cherishes each child, whether that small one is singing “Jesus loves me, this I know” or “I feel my Savior’s love.”  He loves and cherishes each adult as well, though we may not sing with the same enthusiasm and energy.

He asks that we love one another as He loves us all. We are blessed when we can serve in His name, with His power and authority, and with His loving-kindness (Nelson, 2000).