PricelessSample

Priceless Love of Jesus by Jael Benjamin

“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.”

Imagine a child singing a love song, declaring they know they are loved. That they belong. That though they are weak, He is strong.

In a little town called Fairburn, GA, at Mt. Zion Baptist Church—where the motherboard sat in the front with hats so big you could barely see the pastor. Where the ushers weren’t afraid to tell you to wait, because the doors of the church had an invisible clock only they and the Holy Spirit understood. Where every First Sunday was Communion Sunday and we drank juice that represented the blood of Christ and recited Matthew 26:26.

As a child, I didn’t understand the protocols and procedures. But I would later learn there was an order to things.

My Godmama used to sing songs I didn’t understand either. She’d say, “Can’t nobody do me like Jesus.” I’d look at her, confused—how could she sing like this about Jesus in front of Paw Paw? Then Paw Paw would nod and sing, “I feel like going home.”

So I guess they were even.

As a child, there were many things I didn’t understand—like how someone could love Jesus deeply and still be happily married. But I trusted it anyway.

Now, Mama was a soldier—who apparently had a strong BC life. If you don’t know, “BC” means “Before Christ.” It’s the life people lived before something dramatic should’ve taken them out... but God. Still, she’d sing, “We are soldiers in the army, we got to fight, although we have to cry.”

She got out of the actual Army before I was born, so I didn’t get why she was still fighting—or who she was fighting.

Daddy helped collect offering. He’d give me a dollar for church, then ask afterward if I still had it—his way of testing if I gave it during Children’s Church. It made no sense because he’d still put five dollars in my piggy bank every Sunday.

As children, we find ourselves in moments where we don’t understand: Love. Patience. Priorities. Obedience. Giving. Discipline. And it’s okay. God’s amazing grace meets us where we are.

John 11 shows how even when Martha didn’t understand, know, or trust, Jesus still loved her—with words and action. He wants to do the same for us.

When He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for us, He made a priceless investment into our lives—because He loves us, even though we do not fully understand. (John 3:16.)

God calls us His children for a reason.

So today, I share this word of encouragement: Though I do not have it all together, I will rise again. Though I may find myself in darkness, I am free to come into the light. Though I feel like I am in bondage, I will be let go. Because my Father in Heaven Has already declared it so.