MY JESUS I LOVE THEE

I am so thankful that at an early age the Lord provided meaningful ways for me to be involved in ministry. It started in elementary school when I was able to help my mother teach a Good News Club. Since we were charter members of our church, I had the chance to teach Sunday School and even lead the children's department when I was in junior high school. While in senior high I directed our first church choir. From my experiences I firmly believe that Christian young people need to be given areas of responsible ministry. But most of the time today this doesn't happen and their gifts aren't utilized. Maybe that is part of the reason so many leave the church as they grow older. I find this very sad. Young people who know and love the Lord can have an impact on others. Take for example, William Ralph Featherston (1846–1873). As a sixteen-year-old, while living in Montreal, he wrote this week's hymn shortly after his conversion in 1862. He died before his twenty-seventh birthday, and this is apparently the only hymn he wrote. Young Featherston sent the poem to his aunt in Los Angeles, who then sent it to England, where it appeared in The London Hymnbook of 1864. Back in Boston, a Baptist minister was preparing a hymnal for Baptist congregations when he saw "My Jesus, I Love Thee" in the British hymnal. He didn't like the music the words were set to, and he later wrote that "in a moment of inspiration, a beautiful new air sang itself to me." The simple tune he wrote perfectly complemented the simple words, and soon the hymn was being sung across America. That composer, A. J. Gordon, had a remarkable ministry in New England. But putting music to this hymn by a teenage boy may be the accomplishment in A. J. Gordon's life that has touched the most lives of all. I'm sure that many of you, like me, have often been touched by the words of this hymn, penned by a sixteen-year-old. And once again I call your attention to the final verse, which like most hymns, shares the glorious hope of heaven when we will see Jesus, the one we love, face to face.

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;

For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;

My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,

And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;

I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I'll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,

And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,

I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;

I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

Listen to the words and music here. LISTEN