My Jesus, I Love Thee
Complaining about the youth of the day has been the
pastime of adults for centuries.
An Egyptian tomb has an inscription from over 6,000 years
ago that reads, “We live in a decadent age.
Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They inhabit taverns and have no
self-control.”
Martin Luther, late in his life, grumbled, “The young
people of today are utterly dissolute and disorderly.”
“The youth are rebellious, pleasure-seeking, and
irresponsible. They have no respect for
their elders,” fumed Plato. Socrates once
said, “Children now love luxury. They
have bad manners, [and] contempt for authority.
They show disrespect for elders, and love chatter.”
We seem to have to be reminded often that we are not
necessarily “going to Hell in a handbasket” because of our children. The Bible is full of youth who stood firm for
their Faith: Joseph guarding his purity even at the expense of his own freedom,
David who slew a giant with unshakeable faith, Daniel and his three friends who
faced tyranny, Mary – the teenaged mother of Jesus.
Charles Spurgeon began preaching to large crowds as a
teen. Isaac Watts wrote some of his most
famous hymns before he turned 20 years old.
In 1999, seventeen-year-old Cassie Bernal gave her life
for her faith during the Columbine shooting.
In October, 2006, two sisters, Mirian and Barbara Fisher, ages 13 and
11, asked the gunman in their Pennsylvania Amish school if they could be shot
first so the younger students would be spared.
Waves of young people have volunteered for service in the military as a
result of the attacks of September 11th, 2001. If we look, we can see ten examples of our
young people stepping up, often in not-so-dramatic fashion, for every bad
example which captures our attention.
Don’t let their music styles fool you – there is a great deal of
character to be found in the youth of every generation.
In 1862, a sixteen-year-old young man wrote a small song
to celebrate his conversion to Christianity.
William Featherston attended a Methodist church in Montreal. Little is known about how this young man came
to faith or even how the song came to be published (it was apparently published
without his knowledge). It’s okay that
we don’t know much about him, we just know that his little hymn, the only
writing of his that has survived, is an expression of his own undying faith and
is a reminder that even our young people can make a lasting difference. William died at the very young age of 26.
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.”
Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul, Nelson Publishers,
2003.
