Worship V Day 10 My Jesus I Love Thee

I John 4:13-21
Romans 1:18-25
Ephesians 1:3-14

Worship V, Day 10

Before we delve into the history, lyrics, and application of this timeless tune, take a few moments to listen in.
Listen to the words as well as the melody.
Consider closing your eyes to remove distractions from your sight, or watch the video as it plays to help you focus.
My Jesus, I Love Thee!

What thoughts came to mind as you listened?
What emotions welled up?
Maybe your thoughts and emotions mirrored the lyrics and you were caught up in a most blissful state of being.
I hope so.

For me, however, my thoughts and emotions often run counter
to the heart and soul of this song.
I have had to do some hard living lately.
My “adulting” game is fierce, and I have more than once questioned my love for Jesus.
By life’s circumstances, I am tired, hurt, and perplexed.
If I were to pen lyrics to this tune they would go a bit more like this:

My coffee at sunbreak is my only hope.
The chocolate at midday is my way to cope.
My children, beloved, for whom I would die
If ever I loved ones, “My kids” is my reply.

Oh fitness, I love you, endorphins you give.
Real food, in your tastiness, my best life to live.
I love you for bringing curves to my wasteline.
If ever I loved a thing, healthy living sublime.

Friendships, how dear to me, those near and far.
Through trials and triumphs, your love above par.
Those new, old, enduring relationships
Have been for me everything, the anchor of my ship.

To food, friends, and family, I look for my hope.
You are my refuge when with life I can’t cope.
My greatest devotion to you I give,
Make you all my god unto whom I live.

Maybe the details are different for you, but my guess is there are as many other things/people/pursuits of which we make God-replacements as there are folks reading this.

What I listed above is not bad in and of themselves. In fact, most are precious gifts from God Himself to help us through life, to encourage us, give us a sense of purpose and a context in which to live out His love. But how quickly and often they go from being a gift from God to Whom we give thanks to idols we demand and think we cannot live without.

When the words of this beautiful hymn cannot be a sincere declaration of our hearts, they can be transformed into a prayerful petition.

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 has 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

God knows our state of being today just as He knew yesterday’s and tomorrow’s too.
We don’t have to pretend with God.
We can bring our current status directly into His throne room of grace,
covered by the blood of Jesus,
and know God wants to love and transform us at the same time.
In God’s Kingdom ways, these two things are not mutually exclusive,
but mutually inclusive.
One cannot nor does not occur without the other.

William Featherston wrote “My Jesus I Love Thee” in 1864, and I wonder what might have been competing for his attention and affection for God at that time in history. Regardless, Featherstone, at either age 12 or 16 (history is not clear) penned a poem that would eventually be transformed into a hymn; one many still sing today.

Featherston is not known to have written any other poetry or created anything else in his relatively short life time. He died just before his 27th birthday. History legends that Featherston sent the poem to his aunt who believed it was worth publishing. Years after Featherston died, Adoniram Judson, famous missionary to Myanmar, put the words to music and included it in a hymnal where the poem-turned-tune became broadly known.

What impresses me is the fact that Featherston was not seeking fame or fortune;
he was simply expressing his adoration to Christ.
God is the one who ordained events such that Featherston’s adoration evoked the adoration of likely millions more as his words found their way around the world.
The fruit of Featherston’s worship was not made known
until after his life on this earth had passed.

What might that teach us about adoration and fruitfulness in our own lives?
Could it be that our worship, sincere and surrendered,
may bear more fruit than our work for God ever could?

Might it be that the quieter moments between us and Jesus
lead to loud moments of great impact after we are gone?

To close, why don’t you take another few minutes to ponder, pray or pipe out the words to this classic hymn, considering that worship is a choice, not based on feelings or circumstance, but on the precious, unchanging character of the God we serve!

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Here’s a link to all past studies in Worship V!