Stubborn….How many times do I have to tell you??

I was once told the most important thing a person will ever learn in their lifetime they learn at a very young age; assuming they learn it at all. This piece of information is key to a person's salvation and eternal life. That piece of information is..."Jesus loves you this I know. For the Bible tells me so." Silly you may say, but if you really consider what that means, you may realize it means much more than just a song children sing.

As a child growing up in a Lutheran church, singing was always a part of my childhood. We sang in Sunday school, we sang in church, we sang at home, we sang at family functions. You get my point. This was one of the first songs I learned as a child, and yet those words meant nothing to me until I was 20 years old.

I became a Christian on April 9, 2004 in "my" bedroom at my grandparent's house in Austin. My sister, Megan, came in the room and asked if she could talk to me. Of course I said yes (my family really loves each other. There is no sibling rivalry here). Long story short, she shared the gospel with me and I accepted Christ. Before then and even after for a while, I didn't think there was any way it could be that simple. 5 years later, looking back, it is that simple. We give ourselves way too much credit. There is absolutely nothing we can do to atone for our sins, without the acceptance of Christ. And that is all we have to do!

The thing I didn't know about that evening, until 5 years later, was that my sister had cried, prayed and fasted for my acceptance of Christ for months. Well, she fasted for 3 days (still a long time!!), but the rest was months. Finding that out so many years later made me realize even more how much I am loved by the people that surround me and how much the Holy Spirit is involved...always.

Back to my point, the song says, "Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so." So, the first part, "Jesus loves me this I know," KEY! Jesus does love us, all of us!! Once you have accepted Christ as your Savior, you are one of God's adopted children! Now, "For the bible tells me so," this is key in understanding why the previous statement is so important. The messiah was prophesied over 300 times in the Old Testament. A savior would come and live a perfect life, be tortured, would die on a cross and rise again. He would come be the perfect sacrifice for ALL the sinners of this world and accept anyone into his eternal kingdom that would simply accept this as truth. No strings attached. Christ was that messiah. We know this because he fulfilled all the prophecies set forth in the Old Testament. So Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so!!! I don't know how many times in my life I sang that song before I knew what it meant, but I now know I have an eternity to sing that song knowing how awesome and important it is. YEA GOD!!!!