Love You, Bye
Dan Kunz
When I recently did chapel at the area Lutheran high school, where I taught for many years, I asked how many people had ever told a complete stranger that they loved them. One student actually raised his hand. (I never asked the circumstances, but I’m curious about his story.) I went on to tell mine. A number of years ago, I made a call to a company to straighten out a problem with a product which I had purchased. I probably spent ten or fifteen minutes on the phone with the customer service representative and the issue was resolved. As we closed the conversation, I ended by saying, “Love you, bye.” A second after ending the call, I realized what I had said. I told a complete stranger that I loved her!
I know exactly why it happened. If your family is like mine (and probably most other families in America today), you verbalize your love for each other frequently. A generation or two ago, that didn’t happen nearly as often. It’s good that we make our love very clearly known to family and friends. Unfortunately, like almost anything which happens on a regular basis, expressing our love verbally can become “automatic”. If you end every phone call with “Love you, bye” you may not give it much thought and run the risk of saying it to a complete stranger, as I did. Even worse, though, is if it loses its meaning and impact, like a prayer or creed which is “recited” without thought.
To solve that problem, I try to always say, “I love you, Vicky. I love you, Rachel. I love you, Calvin.” It certainly sounds more personal than “Love you, bye”, but it also reminds the loved one you are thinking about them individually, as one near and dear to you. They matter to you. What’s really awesome is that Jesus never says, “Love you, bye.”
First of all, he never leaves us, so he never has to say goodbye. We might leave him, but he doesn’t leave us. What comfort we have in knowing our best friend and Savior is always there! No place is too remote and no hour is too late for him to be with us. He doesn’t sleep and he’s never on vacation. Secondly, and just as important, Jesus knows each of us individually. God himself says, Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart… and Psalm 139:2 You know when I sit down and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
Jesus didn’t just come into the world to die for the sins of the world; he came to die for my sins! Of course, we can’t possibly understand how he can have a personal relationship with millions of people at the same time, but he does. Even more amazing, he knows us by name and knows every aspect of our lives, down to the most intimate detail. Consider the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. It must have been a shock for Jesus to tell her things only she knew! In our case, his knowledge and love of us is not only amazing, it gives us the comfort and peace only he can give. He knows our struggles and challenges. He knows our heartbreaks and needs. Even better, he can do something about them and he will, because he loves us.
For good reason, the first hymn little children usually learn is “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb”. May we never forget or outgrow these words, “Loves me every day the same, even calls me by my name”.