Real Hope: God's LovePrøve

## JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW Everybody has some type of faith. No one can live a single day without exercising faith. When you get into your car, you have faith that it will go and get you to your destination. And yet, our faith is only as good as the object in which we place our faith. Karl Barth was one of the greatest theologians and biblical scholars of the 20th century. When he was an old man, a person asked him, ‘Dr. Barth, if you could distill your theology into one sentence, what would it be?’ Barth replied, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so’. Barth was a giant in biblical knowledge, but the mustard seed center of his faith traced back to the elements he first discovered in his childhood. That childlike trust, that total acceptance and perfect confidence – that’s the essence of faith. The Apostle Paul’s saving faith was not in WHAT he believed, nor a set of moral standards, nor his achievements – but in WHO he believed – Jesus. Paul had experienced Jesus' love and saving grace and there was nothing on earth, or under the earth, that could uproot or dislodge his firm conviction. Let us, like Paul, say, ‘And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love’. ##### written by HEIDI WYSMAN