“My Jesus, I love Thee
I know Thou art mine,
For Thee, all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour 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’ll 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.”
William Ralph Featherston, 1864
Today I sang this hymn for the congregation’s 27th anniversary, with the accompaniment of a wonderful budding flautist. I like how Featherston says it so plainly but powerfully in the refrain, "O Jesus, have I loved you before? Yes, I love you right now." The Chinese version interprets it slightly differently- it's not just about loving dear Jesus right now, but loving him more than before.
Featherston was born into a Christian family, but only converted when he was 16 in 1862, and wrote this passionate and romantic hymn to Jesus. Remember how we felt so passionate and zealous and moved when we first accepted Christ? I remember that wonderful feeling, that 'first love' for Jesus that Paul says we should always have. I knew what to do to show my love for Him, but at the same time I didn't know exactly how to do. Underlying this passion nonetheless was a heart shook by God's grace and Word, which seems to be diminishing and replaced by potentially ritualistic Christian life for me, or for some others, it seems to die down and they grow numb to it.
"Tis' now." Thank God for reminding me to always refocus my life on loving Him. For the past week, I've been meditating on this in line with a verse I came across from quiet time, which talks about having 'zeal' and 'spiritual fervour' (Rom 12:11). Big emotion words they are: what matters more is application. And I'm glad that the friendly neighbours of v11 teach us examples of application. v17 says "Do not repay anyone evil for evil." In my Bible I have my New Year Resolution 2007 card, I made a resolution to love enemies, those unloveable by human nature. Looking back on this year, I'd say I can do better at that, though I've managed to accomplish quite a bit. I don't want to be a Christian blog rhetoric more than living a "Jesus you are mine. I love you" life.
Featherston says Jesus is his and he is confident of being rewarded in eternal life. It means more than a patriarchal ego (heh) or a nice-sounding phrase to claim Jesus as one's own. Sure it happens the other way round, but to say Jesus is mine means I must be proactive in loving Him- having good faith in waiting for prayers to be answered, trusting the beauty of His Will in life's rocky roads, knowing that Jesus never leaves promises unfulfilled even though it may sometimes seem so to the world.
Jesus loves us, and His love is exemplified by dying for us all while we were still sinners and didn't know Him. Loving God with spiritual fervour will die off with the human's weak capacity to love an Intangible. And sometimes it seems so easy to do things in the name of God for Man instead, to idolise the latter and defeat all the work done. So I pray that dear Jesus will keep my love growing for Him, and when I get caught up with the world, to turn my eyes and look full in His wonderful face.
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