I was standing at the door of a house, when I heard some childish voices singing. As I listened I could distinctly hear the words,
“Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak, but He is strong.”
I wondered where the sound came from, but I remembered seeing two or three little children playing on the doorstep of a house opposite, as I had entered the court. I expect it was these children who were singing this lovely hymn.
How I should have liked to have stopped to listen longer. But the little girl belonging to the house I was calling at, had already told her mother I was there, so I could wait no longer.
When I came out the little singers had gone, but their words lingered with me—words I had often sung myself when I was a little girl—yes, sweet words telling of the love of Jesus.
As I thought of those words, “Jesus loves me,” I was reminded of one Sunday afternoon. I was speaking to a class of little boys and girls about the time when cruel men took Jesus and nailed Him to Calvary’s cross. I told them that if Jesus had wished He could have gone back to heaven without dying.
“Can anyone tell me why Jesus suffered all this?” I asked. Only one little hand was held up, and the answer was given by a little girl of seven,
“Because He loved us!”
Yes, that is the reason. Not one of us could ever go to that beautiful home in heaven if the Lord Jesus had not taken our place and died instead of us.
Don’t you think He must have loved us very much to have suffered for us there? And now He wants each one of us to believe in Him and thank Him for all that He has done for us.
Then the little verse will be true of us,
ML 04/24/1938