Jesus loves me: The Second Verse

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who might live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so,
Little ones to Him belong , they are weak but he is strong.
Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me,
Yes Jesus Lives me, the Bible tells me so.

I feel like I have known this song since birth. Your probably humming along in your heads at this point. Luke, our three year old, likes me to sing this one to him as we rock before bed time. The words to this song express the tender love of God, made possible by the son and applied to His elect through the work of the Holy Spirit. It expresses the blessed truths of a wondrous salvation made possible through the Cross of Christ and there is something simply wonderful about a child of God thanking the Father for his love. I have probably sang this song a couple of hundred times to Luke so I have had a lot of time to think through the heart of the message and what it says. I also took the time to think through what it leaves out and how I wish I had known more of God's truths as a child.

So over the course of time, I added a second verse. The reason is simple: I thought that the work of Jesus was only about me and for my sake alone until much later in life. Certainly we are to rejoice in the Gift of Grace found in Jesus. To be fruitful in the kingdom though, we need to know our purpose as the redeemed of God. The reasons for our salvation extend farther than ourselves. So here is the second verse:

Now I know the whole story,
It's for His fame and His Glory;
Since he made me all His own,
Its my joy to make Him known,
Yes Jesus loves me!

So what happens? God gets glory, others lives are transformed by His power in us, the world is shown the power and glory of our God as His Church overcomes the world and evil. As the Kingdom expands, Christ is exalted more as he is worshipped by the people he has saved. This is exactly what Paul is saying in the verses above. He is saying that we are controlled by Christ because He is simply captivating. His work is so awesome that we are drawn to him like some huge black hole pulling at every ounce of our being. We are dead to the flesh's desire to advance ourselves and we live for one purpose: to exalt Christ alone and enjoy the opportunity to do so. Telling others about Him fulfills us as this is the very thing we were originally created to do. So we live for His sake. Our purpose is not to just pull over a few biblical precepts into our American way of life and go on. Our purpose is to worship with a passion that transforms us from the inside out as His Spirit makes us Holy.

So next time you are rocking a little one to sleep, or maybe yourself, don't stop thanking Jesus, but don't forget His purposes in your calling. Christ is the author of Salvation and His Glory is worth singing about!