Roy was five years old, only a little boy, and such thin, pinched little cheeks, and black eyes,―eyes that always seemed to be dancing with mischief. His mother was dead, and his father had got tired of him, and had gone to Mexico, and just left him behind, to get on the best he could. He soon took sick, and was sent to a Hospital for sick children―that was where I first met the little boy.
He was a little mischief, too; I can still remember the other children crying.
“Oh! here comes Roy; look out for your toys;” and the nurses, “Roy is more trouble than any other six boys put together,” and the teacher, “Roy is so naughty in school that none of the other children can learn anything when he is there;” and the doctor, “Roy is a perfect little nuisance.” And so it came about that poor little Roy spent a good deal of his time locked in a room by himself, so as to be kept out of mischief. You will say, “What a bad boy!” but then, you see, he had no mother, or anyone to love or really care for him, like you have had; and besides, God sees your heart just as bad as naughty little Roy’s heart and He says there is “no difference,” and God knows.
One Sunday morning, when little Roy was shut out of Sunday school because he was too bad to be allowed in, I happened to find him, sad and lonely, and said.
“Roy, you and Marguerite and I will have Sunday School by ourselves.” (You would have loved Marguerite. She loved the Lord Jesus, and was one of His little lambs, but was too ill to be allowed in to the regular Sunday school). This pleased Roy very much, and soon we were all sitting in a row on a bed, and Marguerite was repeating a verse. When she had finished Roy said.
“Roy can say a verse too.” I hardly could believe this, as he spent all his time usually teasing the other children when he was in Sunday school, or else he was locked up in a room, but I thought I would give him a chance, and he said proudly.
“JESUS LOVES ME.”
I had not the heart to tell him these words were not in the Bible, so asked him what it meant. This was a new thought to Roy, that it meant anything, so after thinking a long time, he looked up and said.
“It just means, Jesus likes Roy.”
Yes, that was just what it did mean, and it was a wonderful, new thought for naughty little Roy to find out that there was anyone who “liked” him. Even as he said it, a queer little smile came over his face as much as to say, “That sounds too good to be true.”
Perhaps you will say to yourself, “I am sure that Jesus wouldn’t like a bad little boy like Roy, He likes good boys and girls.” Ah! that is just where you make a mistake, for it was for bad boys and girls and bad men and women, that Jesus came. He says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” and so little Roy was one of the very ones that Jesus came for. He was bad and he knew it.
The more Roy thought about this the better it seemed, and he said “If Jesus likes Roy, then Roy likes Jesus.” This is what he thought, “The other children don’t like me, the teachers don’t like me, the nurses don’t like me, nor the doctor; my own father doesn’t like me, and yet Jesus likes Roy. Roy does like Jesus, Roy will just do all he can to please Jesus.”
It was not very long after this that the nurse said one day, “Roy has been a very much better boy lately, so if you don’t mind, he may go in to Sunday School again.” Well, you may be sure I didn’t mind that, and it was a real pleasure to have him there listening so quietly, and drinking in all he could about the only One in all the world who “liked” him.
A few months after this the children were saying their verses, and also giving the chapter and verse in the Bible where they could be found, when suddenly a little voice asked, “Where is Roy’s verse?”
I knew well what the child meant, but to see if he remembered the words, asked, “What is Roy’s verse?”
“Oh! don’t you remember, you know Roy’s verse. Jesus likes Roy.”
I hardly knew what to say, for you know there is no verse in the Bible with those words in it, and yet I could not bear to think of letting the little boy think it was not true, so I said, “Roy, your verse is in Galatians, chapter 2, verse 20.” I thought Roy would be satisfied with this, but no. The next question was. “Let Roy see.” Well, I thought, he can’t read, so I will just show him the place in the Bible. So I found the place and gave him the Bible in his own hands, and went on talking to the other children, rather glad that at last Roy was satisfied. I had forgotten all about the little child, when suddenly I was interrupted with the question.
“Where’s the R? Where’s the R?”
“What R?” I asked.
“The R. Where’s the R? The R for Roy? Where’s the R?” I suddenly realized what the child meant. Someone had taught him the letter R., and told him that stood for Roy, and he had been hunting for the R for Roy in Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20). I felt stuck. What could I tell the child? At last I said.
“Roy, it doesn’t say anywhere in the Bible, ‘Jesus likes Roy,’ but in Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20), it does say, ‘The Son of God,’ and that means Jesus, ‘loved me,’ and that means “likes Roy.” Suppose it did say, ‘Jesus likes Roy,’ you would never know for sure it meant you, for there are other boys called Roy, who are much better boys than you, and you would be sure to think, ‘Oh! that doesn’t mean me, it must mean someone else.’ But when it says, ‘The Son of God loved me’ then it can’t mean anyone else, but just your own self.” Roy listened so hard, and at last said, “Oh! I see. Yes, that’s much better, it must mean me,” and then little Roy learned his verse over again, with a little more on the end, and he never wearied of hearing and telling that,
“THE SON OF GOD... LOVED ME, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.”
To Roy this was the most wonderful thing he had ever heard, and it changed his whole life, even at five years of age.
Many a time since then has “Roy’s verse” brought comfort to my own heart, when perhaps I was tempted to ask; “Carest Thou not?” and the thought, “Jesus likes me,” has come so sweetly.
Now, dear Reader, have you ever found out yet that
JESUS LIKES YOU?
We get accustomed to the sweet old hymn, “Jesus loves me”, and we all admit that; but did you ever think, the Lord JESUS likes you, just as you are? Doesn’t it make you think to yourself, “I like Jesus?” Yes,
“WE LOVE HIM, BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US.”
May we each one, old and young, learn to know more of the sweetness of Roy’s precious new verse, “The Son of God... loved me, and gave Himself for me,” and like him, may our whole life be changed by it.