“Everybody likes me, I announced to my mother one day when I was still a toddler. I don’t remember this youthful burst of confidence, but my mother told me about it a few months ago. It seems so unlike me that every time I think of it I smile. I wasn’t bragging or trying to convince anyone; I was just stating a matter of fact. Perhaps only a child could truly believe that everyone enjoyed her presence. Imagine a life where you were convinced that simply being yourself brought joy to others.

I was reminded of that story the other night when I was singing Caleb to sleep. Suddenly I realized that “Jesus loves me, this I know is an echo of the same confidence that I had as a child. It occurred to me that I had never really paid attention to the words of the song: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Indeed, Paul prays that the Ephesians would “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, a love “that surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:18-19). When Jesus calls us to be like little children (Matt. 18:3), I believe part of that means simply accepting His love without question.

How different would my life be if I could let go of all of my self-absorbed insecurities and simply know with a childish confidence that Jesus loves me? I wouldn’t need anything else. I bet I’d act a little more like that little girl who never met a stranger because when I really accept that my Lord loves me it no longer matters whether everybody likes me or not. What a joy it is to know: “Yes, Jesus loves me.