The Way of Joy and Liberty

"How can I be filled with the love of God?"
"My failure in the past and gloom in the present weary me."
"My life is full of failure, and each day is perhaps a little worse than the one preceding. As I review each day it is always failure, failure in every way conceivable, until one feels driven to despair."
"I feel as though I must give up, but I dare not and in reality have no desire to do so."

These are extracts from letters received recently from young Christians. And we are sure that many are passing through similar exercises. We shall be glad if we can help them, and it maybe a few simple words may do so even before they express the desire for it.

Are you childlike enough to sing a child's chorus? If so, sing:

"Yes, Jesus loves ME!
  Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, JESUS loves me!
  THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO."

Sing it over and over until the music of the truth of it awakens the dumb chords in your soul. Search the Bible to find out where it tells you this great fact; consider how He has proved it, still proves it, and will yet prove it. There could be no subject more precious than the past, present, and future of the love of Christ.

When you have to mourn the coldness of your love, think of His love that the many waters could not quench (S. of Sol. 8:7). When you have to confess your forgetfulness and faithlessness, give thanks to Him that He cannot forget (Isa. 49:15), and that He loves His own to the end (John 13:1). When your selfishness and reserve fill you with shame, bless His name, that He held back nothing, but sold all that He had (Matt. 13:45), and gave Himself for you (Gal. 2:20). Take up the very words, they are divinely given and throb with a wonderful power, "THE SON OF GOD LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME."

"Yes, Jesus loves me!
  Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus LOVES me!
  The Bible tells me so."

Here is the Master key that will unlock every cell in Doubting Castle, the strong chain that will bind giant Despair in impotency, the angel hand that will lead you out of your captivity. Here is the sunshine that will bathe your soul in your liberty, the air that you will breathe for your constant invigoration. Here is the philosopher's stone that will transmute the base metal of your own life's efforts into the pure gold of acceptable service at your Saviour's feet. Here is your motive, your boast, your song:

"Yes, Jesus loves me!
  Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, JESUS loves me!
  THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO."