Is your faith in God deeper than “Jesus loves me, this I know”?
Are you drinking milk or eating solid food?

Do you know the saying, “Jesus loves me, this I know”? Hint – it’s for children. But if you’re an adult, and someone asks you about your faith, do you respond with this as all or part of your answer?

In case you’re not familiar with where this saying came from – as I wasn’t – let’s begin with that.

The only part I’ve ever heard, even from adults, is this:

Jesus loves me, this I know,
for the Bible tells me so.

Please, don’t get me wrong here. I have nothing against this song or the concept, as long as its original intent is kept in mind.

It’s not that the words aren’t true. Rather, they don’t really say anything to a non-Christian who asks about our faith. Honestly, they don’t say much to ourselves about our faith, unless we’re children – either by chronological age or by how long we’ve been Christian.

Here’s why I say that:

Literary scholar Leland Ryken has described the strengths of this hymn in relation to its popularity and endurance:

The subject matter is dear to the heart of every child, who instinctively feels the need to be loved and cared for. The assertions that are made line by line are simple and immediately grasped. Just as most children’s books feature a child protagonist, the references in the hymn to little ones and his little child imply that the speaker in the poem is a child. Once we accept this premise, other declarations in the poem fall into place as expressing a child’s perspective. The lines are short, and the rhyme scheme is simple couplets. A children’s hymn needs to have a firm meter to keep it marching, and the meter of this poem is ingenious: each line has seven syllables, and the first six are trochaic—an accented syllable followed by and unaccented one. The add-on syllable at the end is accented, ending each line emphatically. Putting all this together, we can say that the poem has a strong beat and energetic rhythm.

It was written for children. As I mentioned, it may even be something to think about for new Christians.

However, at the same time, we should also remember something the author of Hebrews wrote about, as did Paul in some of his letters, but we’ll look at Hebrews today:

Warning Against Falling Away

6:4-6 Ref—Heb 10:26-31

Heb 5:11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Heb 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.
Heb 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Heb 6:7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Heb 6:9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation. 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Notice the references to milk, as opposed to solid food. But especially notice the opening thought:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.

There’s a limit as to how much of what the Bible has to tell us if we remain in the early stages of our knowledge and beliefs. That is, in these terms, if we’re still at Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. We can’t understand more, because we don’t even understand much of the foundation yet.

Didn’t Jesus tell us to be like children?

Yes, Jesus did tell believers that we need to be like children. However, the question is which characteristics of children did He mean? All of them? Or only certain one(s)?

Let’s take a look at the entire song now:

Think about the words. And think about the mother, singing Jesus love me, this I know to her baby.

The image is perfectly acceptable, as far as the baby hearing those words. Supposedly, even at this age, things are somehow remembered. The words, the tone, the peacefulness of it all is good for the baby. No doubt, it’s also good for the mother as well.

But don’t we hope the mother has a reason, and therefore enough knowledge, to know that the words she’s singing to her baby are true? How does she know that “Jesus love me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so” is even really true?

Consider this: What if the mother read something from an atheist about how God doesn’t exist? Or from someone who thought God was evil. Or someone who didn’t believe Jesus was the Son of God. What if, since she read one of those things first, she never believed in God? Because of that, she never sang the song to her baby.

Does it make sense to question everything that has something negative to say about God, but blindly accept everything from the Bible because, well, just because? I mean, we can’t even say believe the Bible because it’s the word of God. Why not? For one thing, how do we know it’s true? And if we do accept that it’s true, for some unknown reason, what do we believe when someone brings us a different version of something claiming to be from God? For instance, one that says we have a second chance after we die to accept God? Or one that says God never had a son, and therefore Jesus is just a prophet?

It’s OK to question things. It’s good to question things. Even important to question things. The Bible can stand up to questioning, as long as we’re open to the truth. If we’re going into it assuming the Bible isn’t true, well, then we’ll believe what we want to believe.

What Jesus actually said about His followers and children

Go ahead and read the passage below. However, you may finish and not get the point. I’ll explain why in a moment.

The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven – Matthew

18:1-5 pp — Mk 9:33-37; Lk 9:46-48

Mt 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Mt 18:2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Mt 18:5 “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Mt 18:7 “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

So – do you know what Jesus was trying to say? The issue with this passage is that children today are so different than they apparently were two thousand years ago. For that matter, from when I was little. I would never have been allowed to do and say many of the things children do these days. If they don’t learn bad habits, words, and actions from their parents, they certainly will from their friends and from watching TV.

Does that give a hint as to what Jesus told people back in His time?

Jesus didn’t mean to stay a child in terms of maturity or knowledge

Jesus wasn’t telling us to not “grow up”. Rather it was, as the NIV passage title implies, self-centered. Today, between parents, friends, television, and the like, little kids learn to be very much self-centered at a very early age. So we’ll see – what we’re doing with/to children today is oftentimes exactly what Jesus told His followers not to do!

18:1 The opening phrase about that time ties this event to the previous teaching (17:24–27). The disciples wondered about this coming Kingdom of which Jesus would be the king. In addition, Jesus’ talk of his coming death probably made them wonder how they were to run the Kingdom in his absence. The disciples were naturally curious about their position in the coming Kingdom. This question, “Which of us is greatest?” also may have been fueled by the special privileges given to Peter, James, and John at various times—most recently their trip with Jesus to the mountain and then their silence about what had happened there (17:1–9).

18:2–4 To answer the disciples’ question, Jesus called a small child over to him. The disciples needed to become as little children. Jesus wanted them to change their attitude toward greatness. The disciples had become preoccupied with the organization of an earthly kingdom and were seeking positions of advantage. Jesus used a child to help his self-centered disciples get the point. They were to have servant attitudes, not being “childish” (arguing over petty issues) but “childlike,” with humble and sincere hearts. God’s people are called to humility and unconcern for social status. Those who persist in pride and “ladder climbing” for the sake of status in this world will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. By contrast, those who, in humility, realize their need of a Savior, accept him, and move into the world to serve, not only enter the Kingdom but will be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. True humility means to deny oneself, to accept a position of servanthood, and to completely follow the Master.  ¹Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (p. 81). Tyndale.

It’s one thing for an adult to be concerned about worldly stuff. When we’re kids, we soak up stuff like sponges. Good, bad, or indifferent, it doesn’t matter. We pick up all sorts of stuff, long before we’re ready to process it and know whether it’s good or bad.

What Jesus wants us to see in the children are “little ones” who are entirely dependent on their parents. They cannot survive on their own. They need help, and they know it.

But these days, in all sorts of ways, children are pretty much forced to grow up and become selfish and self-centered.

And just look again at what Jesus said about the part we adults play in how the little children grow up:

4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Mt 18:5 “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Not good for those who cause a child / a person of innocence to sin. And yet, how often does that happen, and we don’t even think about it?

Instead, Jesus is looking for:

18:5 Jesus was also teaching the disciples to welcome children. This was a new approach in a society where children were usually treated as second-class citizens. Jesus equated the attitude of welcoming children with a willingness to receive him. An attitude that welcomes a little child like this readily welcomes and embraces believers of little worldly importance and low status. This shows an attitude that also welcomes the Savior, for he too was of little worldly importance and of low status. In God’s Kingdom, greatness lies in acceptance of and dependence upon the Savior. Together in the church, believers are to welcome and love one another, encourage one another, allow everyone a place to shine according to their gifts, and appreciate one another. ²Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (p. 81). Tyndale.

It’s exactly the opposite of what many children are taught today.

Also notice the part about how children were regarded as second-class citizens. Today, there are Christians who put their children and maybe especially grandchildren even above God in terms of relative importance. That’s also very different from back then.

OK, but is it really about someone other than a person who’s young in years?

Yes, it absolutely is:

18:6 As in 18:5, these little ones refers not just to children but to Jesus’ “little ones”—the disciples. Jesus warned that anyone who turns people away from him will receive severe punishment. A millstone was a heavy, flat stone used to grind grain. To have a millstone tied around one’s neck and then be thrown into the sea meant certain death by drowning. Even the horror of such a death was minor compared to what this person would face in eternity.  ³Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (pp. 81–82). Tyndale.

That means that any one of us who can truly be called a disciple today, someone who’s trying to honestly follow Jesus, is a child in terms of what Jesus said.

A summary of The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew)

Here’s another way to look at it, using a word we use, but maybe don’t fully understand: humility. Not false humility, as many people have. But rather, real humility.

Humility (18:1–4)

If we were to stop and think what was most important in church relationships, I do not think many Christians would come up with this quality, which Jesus wants to see as the first and foremost characteristic of his disciples: humility. ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom?’ ask the disciples (1). Alas, Christians ancient and modern are often preoccupied with that question. And, in sharp contrast to the disciples’ fascination with status and position, Jesus takes a little child—and they were of little account in antiquity—and declares that greatness is to be found precisely there. The kingdom upturns secular values. Real greatness is not to be found in seeking to be praised and served by others, but in seeking others to serve, especially those who have no rights. Significantly, the first mark of Christians in the church is the supreme mark of the Son of Man himself, humility (17:22–23). If the Son of Man goes humbly as it is written of him, how much more should his followers?

We can be fairly sure that when Jesus called the little lad to him, he came promptly, and stayed where he was put. That child was accounted great by Jesus. Is that not a clue to what real humility means? It means coming when Jesus calls us and staying where Jesus puts us. So humility is not a matter of suppressing our drive and hiding our gifts. Humble people are quite unself-conscious about it all, like the lad. They claim no right from others, or from their Master. They follow where Jesus calls and stay where Jesus puts them. That is humility.

Archbishop William Temple unself-consciously displayed that humility in his own character. ‘I have never sought and never refused a position of greater responsibility,’ he said. That shows how humility can quite naturally accompany great positions of leadership. It is a quality that is imperative among Christians. Others may need to ‘keep face’ because they have no ultimate security to fall back on. Christians should never need to do this. They know they are accepted in Christ. They should be willing and able to take their masks off, lay no pretence to greatness, and be utterly at the disposal of Jesus. The American preacher S. D. Gordon, not himself highly educated, once advised, ‘Get every qualification you can and then use it for God.’ The trouble is that those who are not humble spend much of their lives hunting wealth, possessions and qualifications for their own sake, hoping that they will give them the status and self-esteem they crave. But no. God has already given us the highest status in the world. We are his paidia, his ‘children’. But in Greek (as in Aramaic) the word also means ‘servants’.  ⁴Green, M. (2001). The message of Matthew: the kingdom of heaven (pp. 190–191). InterVarsity Press.

How many of us can honestly say that describes us to a “T”? Or our kids and grandkids?

A simple question about the song – Jesus loves me, this I know

OK – given everything we just looked at, how do you explain this verse to a little kid?

Jesus loves me he who died
heaven’s gate to open wide.
He will wash away my sin,
let his little child come in.

Here’s one question I can imagine a little kid asking:

Does God only let little kids into Heaven?

That’s an obvious question, since the verse says God will let his little child come in.

And the question matters because, to the little kid, parents aren’t children. Further, when the little kid grows up, they aren’t a child anymore either. It can be scary, if the child can’t get good answers to those kinds of questions. That means the parents have to be able to answer them.

That’s why we must eventually move beyond the very simple immature, for lack of a better word, child-like faith. We must become more mature, although still child-like the way Jesus meant it.

This, of course, is not against what Jesus taught. For instance:

The Greatest Commandment – Mark

12:28-34 pp — Mt 22:34-40

Mk 12:28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Mk 12:29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mk 12:32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Mk 12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Notice, Jesus said:

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Yes, God gave us a mind. And we should use it, all of it, to love God. Think back over everything we looked at so far. It’s our minds that allow us to read it. To understand it. Yes, we’ll understand it to varying degrees, depending on many things, but we should use the mind we have, the circumstances we’re in, etc. to understand as much as we can.

That way, we can explain our faith, whether to a child or an adult. To a believer or non-believer. We’ll know what we believe and why. We’ll also know God’s voice, as opposed to someone else, as in:

The Shepherd and His Flock

Jn 10:1 “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

Jn 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jn 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Jn 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

If we don’t read the Bible, don’t study the Bible, don’t make a good attempt to understand the Bible, how can we know Jesus’ voice?

Conclusion – Is your faith in God deeper than “Jesus loves me, this I know”?

Ultimately, we see that in some ways, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, isn’t necessarily a problem. For a child, it’s a good beginning. For a new believer, it’s also maybe a good beginning. However, eventually, the child is going to grow up. The new believer is, hopefully, going to grow in their faith.

If we don’t move beyond the simple memorization/repetition of Jesus loves me, this I know, we won’t be able to help them.

Why not?

For one thing, we might get “lost” ourselves, because we don’t know Jesus’ voice.

For another, as the child/new believer adult grow in faith, they will have questions. And we won’t be able to answer them. Not even relatively simple questions. Because we never grew ourselves. As it’s put in Hebrews, we’re still drinking milk if we don’t grow our own faith.

If we’re still drinking milk, and only know about milk, how can we even begin to talk about solid food?

We must have a Bible. And we must read it. Even more, we must do what it takes to understand as much of it as we can. Remember, part of what we’re commanded to do is to help others. To help make disciples of others. It’s really hard to do that unless we know what Jesus wants to teach people to become disciples, and what to do after that.

Don’t let your Bible become like the one in this image.

images by Microsoft Designer with DALL-E 3 – from descriptions from me

Footnotes

• 1
  Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (p. 81). Tyndale.
• 2
  Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (p. 81). Tyndale.
• 3
  Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (pp. 81–82). Tyndale.
• 4
  Green, M. (2001). The message of Matthew: the kingdom of heaven (pp. 190–191). InterVarsity Press.