Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Friday, January 3, 2020

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."¹

Karl Barth, famous though sometimes controversial contemporary Swiss theologian, was a great thinker, a prolific writer, and a professor at several leading European universities.

On one occasion he was confronted by a reporter who wanted a brief summary of his twelve thick volumes on church dogmatics. Barth could have given an impressive intellectual reply or a profound theological dissertation. He didn't. Quoting from the popular children's hymn, he simply replied, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

This favorite hymn was written by Anna Bartlett Warner (1820-1915) who, with her sister Susan, wrote to supplement the family income when her father lost much of his fortune in the panic of 1837 and the family fell on hard times.

I have read that this hymn is one of the first hymns that missionaries teach new converts. It was a favorite of Francis Schaeffer, the intellectual Christian scholar and teacher. And Amy Carmichael, the famed Irish missionary to India, was converted to Christ after hearing this hymn sung at a children's mission in Yorkshire, England.

"Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so." What greater truth in the entire world can any of us ever know? No matter what we have ever done or failed to do, Jesus loves us totally, completely, fully, and unconditionally. All we need to do is accept and embrace this love—including his forgiveness. It's available to all who acknowledge their need of a Savior.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me not only to know that you love me but to feel your love at the very core of my being—and express it in some way to every life I touch. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

For help, be sure to read the article, "How to Be Sure You're a Christian ... without having to be religious" at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

1. John 15:13 (NIV).

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