When I was in the first grade, I had a Sunday school teacher named Miss Lynn. Twenty years later, I wish that I remembered more about her. She was absolutely worth remembering.
I have a fuzzy picture in my heart of a tall slender woman likely in her 50’s or early 60’s. Her soft grey hair and sweet smile were just what you might expect from a Methodist Sunday School teacher.
How many children had sat around tables before me, I have no idea. But one thing I’m sure of, she loved each of us well. Every child in her class was told a hundred times just how lovable they were, and we believed her.
Praise the Lord for Miss Lynns everywhere.
Every week, about halfway to Sunday, I would come home from school to a hand written post card from miss Lynn. The card mostly spoke of the last week’s lesson and asked an open ended question about how awesome Jesus sounded in that particular story. She often included stickers or little drawings. But what made the card special was the love behind it, and how she signed it… “God loves you and so do I.”
She was a lady that absolutely got it, and she wanted to make sure we did too. She knew that more than anything hearts (little ones especially) need to know that they are loved. She also knew that if you tell someone something enough times, they just might begin to believe it.
God loves you and so do I.
How much like Miss Lynn am I? I am so quick to want to share the truth of the Gospel with others, but I often fail to remember that above all, hearts need to know they are loved. You can tell anyone anything about Jesus, but until they believe that He loves them… That love is His ONLY motive for pursuing them, nothing we say will matter.
What if you had the chance to say one thing to an unbeliever and expect to change their life? Would it be, “You are a sinner bound for hell unless you repent and accept Jesus as Lord?” Or would it be, “There is nothing that you could ever do that would make the God of the universe love you less, and He wants the opportunity to be the lover of your soul and King of your heart?”
Both might be true, but words spoken in love are ALWAYS more readily received into a hurting heart.
What if in every encounter, every word, every conversation the power of God’s love was evident through you? We cannot say it enough times. We cannot tell others too often.
Who knows, if we say it enough, people just might start to believe us.
“God loves you and so do I.”
