Three times Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” That was in a post-resurrection appearance where Jesus was assuring Peter of forgiveness and restoration after the apostle had three times denied knowing Jesus. That same question directed to Peter comes to us as well, when we remember Jesus’ answer to the question about the greatest commandment. It is that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
That does not mean, as some have suggested, that doctrinal substance is of no importance; that loving Jesus is all there is to being a Christian. After all, the command is that we should love Him with all our mind! But one of the distinguishing marks of a true conversion is that the redeemed sinner genuinely loves Jesus with every fiber of his or her being. To believe in Jesus, to know Jesus, to be saved by Jesus … will mean that we love Him!
That’s what we have in this beloved hymn, “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” It was written by William R. Featherstone (1846-1873), who died at the young age of only 27. He is thought to have married Julie R. MacAliser in 1869 and that they had a son, John, in 1870. He penned the words as a teenager at the age of 16, at the time when he became a Christian. He was born and died in Montreal, Canada. He belonged to the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Montreal, later renamed St. James Methodist Church, and later St. James United Church.
After writing the poem, he mailed a copy to his aunt in Los Angeles. If Featherston wrote any other poems, none made it into publication or have survived. In fact, this is the extent of what we know about him. The original copy of the hymn, in the author’s own handwriting, is still a cherished treasure in the family. She gave it to a publisher and from there it found its way into an 1864 London hymnal. That’s where evangelist Adoniram Judson Gordon (1836-1895), founder of Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, encountered it in 1870. He had been named after the famed pioneer missionary to India and Burma, Adoniram Judson (1788-1850).
Gordon served as a pastor and also as an evangelist, becoming a friend of Dwight Moody. He was impressed with the words but did not like the tune. So, he composed the melody that has been used for the hymn ever since. He was not an accomplished musician but was very good at composing melodies. He would hum tunes until he found something he liked, then would have a member of his family play the notes on the piano, which were then jotted down. It was just this way that the tune we know of as GORDON found its way into the 1876 edition of “The Service of Song for Baptist Churches.” He died on February 2, 1895, in Boston, of the flu. He was 59 years old.
Ira Sankey was the song leader for Dwight Moody’s evangelistic meetings. Sankey gave this account of a story connected with the hymn, “My Jesus, I Love Thee.”
“An actress was walking down the street many years ago and passed by an open door. Through the door, she saw a pale sickly girl, obviously handicapped, laying on a couch watching people pass by. She thought to herself, “I might be able to cheer up this girl.” And with that, she stopped and went inside. The sick girl was a devoted Christian. The actress was impressed with her words, her patience, her submission, and her uplifting countenance. All of these so exemplified her faith that the actress was touched and began to seriously consider the claims of Christianity. Later, she decided to convert and become a follower of Christ. She told her father, the leader of the theater troupe, of her conversion and her conviction that she could not live a consistent Christian life and still be an actress. Her father was astonished and told his daughter that their living depended on her. If she quit, their business would be ruined. He was persistent and managed to get her to reluctantly agree to continue. They made preparations for the next play of which she had the starring role. The father rejoiced that he had won his daughter back. The hour came and the audience was in place, the curtain rose, and the young actress stepped forward amid the applause. She stepped forward and the audience hushed as the light beamed on her beautiful face. There in the silence, she repeated these words:
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
That was all. Leaving the audience in tears, she retired from the stage, never to appear on it again. But through her influence, her father was converted, and together, they led several others to Christ. The commitment made from the heart of this young actress may have cost her their livelihood, but she gained eternity. Who was that invalid girl? We may never know. The power of a radiant Christian life, even though handicapped, combined with a hymn poem written by a teenage boy in Canada provided the most effective sermon anyone could have proclaimed. So often, we wait and search for some “great” thing to do that will help us teach others of the love of Jesus, when just a simple honest declaration of our love and commitment will do.”
One of the first things that ought to impress us is that every stanza is addressed to Jesus. How wonderful that in our singing in worship, we are privileged to speak directly to Him with the confidence that He hears us. As we sing this, we should seek to hear Jesus’ voice in our mind asking us, “Do you love me?” and then singing the words of the hymn as our answer to Him. And as we do, of course, we ought to remember that we love Him because He first loved us.
Stanza 1 establishes the closest possible intimate relationship with Jesus. As the young Featherstone wrote to tell Jesus that he loved is Savior, Scripture gave him – and gives us – the amazing privilege of claiming Him as mine! His love has given and promised us, it should not be difficult to give up all the emptiness of the world’s pleasures, resigning “all the follies of sin.”
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
Stanza 2 makes the gospel explicit. The reason we love Jesus is because of what He has done for us, loving us first by going to the cross in our place. It was at Calvary’s tree that He “purchased my pardon.” Remembering the sight of Him there, “wearing the thorns on Thy brow, our love for Him grows even stronger. He took the initiative, loving us before we loved Him, loving us when we were not only still in our sin, but without any desire for Him whatsoever.
I love Thee because Thou has 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.
Stanza 3 is unusual for a teenager. And yet here was Featherstone probably about 16 years old, thinking of his death and how loving Jesus in life would carry over into loving Jesus in death. The goal of our life should be to praise Him in every moment, every experience, every season of life, as long as we have breath. And so that carries over to that final moment “when the death dew lies cold on my brow.” Is my love for Him strong enough now that it will be that strong then?
I’ll love Thee in life, I 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.
Stanza 4 continues that surprising realization that even as a teenager Featherstone was looking beyond death to what Jesus has promised. In those mansions of glory and endless delight, our lips will sing Jesus’ praise. We will “ever adore Thee in heaven so bright,” as our eternal, joyful occupation. And after singing the thorns on Jesus’ brow, and death’s cold dew lying on our brow, we can sing of another brow … the “glittering crown on my brow,” the crown that will be awarded to me.
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.
We can’t help but notice the intensity of the final line of each stanza. “If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.” Through the four stanzas, we sing the words “love” or “loved” ten times!
Here is a recording of the congregation of Grace Community Church (John MacArthur, Pastor) singing the hymn.