Wrong Song

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My Temple will be called ‘a house of prayer for all nations,’ Mark 11:17 NLT

If you learned a Christian song in the early years of your life, there is a good chance you learned Jesus Loves Me. If you need a refresher on the lyrics, it goes like this. Sing aloud if you’d like.

Jesus loves me this I know
for the Bible tells me so
Little ones to himbelong
They are weak but he is strong
Chorus: Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The Bible tells me so

How can you help but smile when you sing that song? There is a good reason we love that song, and it goes beyond the fact that it is true. We love it because it is about us. Jesus loves ME! I am the object of his love.

To capture the full spirit of the song, we might as well wrap our arms around ourselves when we sing it. Jesus loves me. What a comfort that is! Try it. It makes you feel good. Please don’t burn me for heresy. I like the song. I really do, but it can be a problem too. If I’m honest, I want everything to be about me. Me, me, me is the song we like to sing.

The whole idea of this book, backwards, is that to make everything about me feels so appropriate. Here is the problem, we naturally make ourselves the center of the story. Our first filter in life is the one that judges something good or bad, right or wrong, by how it affects me. We all do it. And it is backwards to the way that God designed life.

This truth, that Jesus loves me, is a basic building block for life. And remember, with God it IS all about you—that is why He sent Jesus die on the cross—to pay for your sin. But once you follow Him—it is no longer about you, it is about OTHERS. Jesus wants everyone to know Him. Once you join the family of God, it is the pre-occupation of this family to live your life on mission, on purpose, all the time for others to know Jesus. It’s not about you. That is the plan, and it is a good thing.

Trust Jesus to meet your needs as you serve. Trust his love as you go through your life. It will always be there for you. When you live the life that is SENT there is a divine return cycle that is better than any you could create on your own. You become your brother’s keeper. And God becomes your keeper. To the extent that we live with this perspective life makes sense.

A better theme song for living SENT would be a different children’s song:

Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in his sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world

It’s fine to sing both if you want to live SENT just don’t sing the first song, Jesus Loves Me without also singing the second, Jesus Loves the Little Children.

What is God asking you to trust Him to do? To whom is He asking you to serve? Will you live ‘backwards’ for His glory?

Gary Kendall 

www.livingsent.net/devotionals

Devo 30, Week 6, SENT, Day 5