God Speaking

“…God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him”

(1 John 4:16)

Our little grandson is approaching three years old and loves listening to stories and the ones he loves the best are ones about the family and everyday happenings, especially the ones that have some dramatic incidence in them. He begs his grandfather to tell and retell about how the big trees surrounding our cabin had to be chopped down and my husband obliges by many loud noises of chain saws and much moving of hands until the final mighty crash as the tree comes falling down. As soon as he finishes talking a little voice immediately pipes up, “Tell the story again, Grandpa” He never seems to tire of the story (like we do who are listening along with him) and this made me remember an old hymn about the joy of listening to a well-loved story about our Saviour and what incredible peace it brings about in our lives and how the retelling of it is so important. The hymn is called;

Tell Me The Old, Old Story

Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above

Of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.

Tell me the story simply as to a little child

For I am weak and weary, helpless and defiled.

When I was searching for these words on the internet, I reached one site that had a beautiful rendition and as I listened to the one who was singing, I felt the deep longing of countless others who had uttered these same words. All of us need to be reassured like little children of Jesus’ all-encompassing love. We need to hear again and again that he is the glorious one and is able to restore us even though we may be weak and helpless and feel we are not worthy. We also need to hear the truth simply. I feel man-made rules and many doctrines have complicated our beliefs and we need to heed this hymn that tells us, accept the truth with childlike trust. I think the disciple John puts it so simply “God is love…” (1 John 4:16) and Jesus himself tells us to be like little children in acknowledging this wonderful news.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15)

The other verse of the hymn that catches my attention has these words in it;

Tell me the story often for I forget so soon.

I think this happens to all of us at different times. Life gets busy. Stress happens. Problems arise. Even though we know the good news of Jesus Christ, somehow it is not forefront in our minds. This is when we need to be like my little grandson and beg others to “tell the story again”, or we may be the ones to remind others when they are struggling with life’s problems so we join together in rejoicing in his great love.

The good news is so good, it needs telling and retelling over and over again!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)