Three simple words...

Romans 10:17
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

My wife pointed out an interesting Facebook status earlier yesterday. It read, “What’s something that your mom said to you that you vowed never to say to your children, but have?” There were a lot of interesting, and amusing, posts on there, but the comment really got me thinking, “What has my mom said that I vowed never to say?” And then it hit me!

All through my life growing up, no matter where we lived, how much money we didn’t have, or what kind of car we drove, my mom always told me these three words; “Jesus loves you.” If I was feeling down, “Jesus loves you.” If things weren’t going my way, “Jesus loves you.” When I was ready for bed, “Jesus loves you.” When people were teasing me, “Jesus loves you.” A lot of the time I thought she sounded like a broken record or a retarded parrot.

I didn’t believe that Jesus loved me. Heck, I didn’t even believe there was a Jesus. Yeah, I went to church and sang on Sunday morning, but I didn’t believe in Jesus. I was young and had to go because my parents made me. But when I turned 18, I made up my mind. There would be no more Jesus or church for me. He wasn’t real and that was that. I told myself that I would never tell my kid “Jesus loves you” because I believed there was no Jesus!

As the years passed and I did some stupid things, one thing remained constant: my mom continued to tell me “Jesus loves you.” Even as an adult on my own, when struggles would come my way, Mom’s answer was “Jesus loves you.” It got to the point that when I heard those three words it was as if someone were running fingernails down a chalkboard while hitting me in the head with a mallet!

Today, May 8, 2011, something dawned on me. All those times she was saying “Jesus loves you”, faith was coming. It was coming by hearing the simple word of God. Really, isn’t that the Gospel in a nutshell? Jesus loves you. He loves me, you, them, that guy, those gals, him, her, that old grouchy man, that mean old cat lady; Jesus loves us! Isn’t that what the Word of God says? Doesn’t the Bible make it abundantly clear in passage after sweet passage that “Jesus loves you”?

So what of it? People we need to get on board and start acting like annoying broken records and retarded parrots. We need to start saying the simple truth to one another. That Truth is that Jesus loves you! I have no greater desire today than to tell the entire world the very three words I swore never to say to my own child, “JESUS LOVES YOU!” I am consumed with Jesus and the desire to find Him in everything.

So, while this blog is all about Jesus and shall remain that way, today I’m putting in some props to my mom. Not just because it’s Mother’s Day, but because I want her to know “Jesus loves you, too.”