"And what is the first, and best?"
"Why, mamma, can't you guess?" and the little girl's blue eyes grew very bright, as they gazed earnestly into her mother's face. "It's because you loved me when I was too little to love you back; that's why I love you so."
And what a reason this is why we should love Jesus! He loved us when we were too little to love him back. The Bible says—"We love him because he first loved us." He loved us before we knew him, or had ever heard of him. He loved us before we were born. Before the world was made Jesus thought of you and me, and loved us. This is what he means when he says:—"I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Jer. xxxi: 3. This means a love that never had a beginning, and that will never have an end. This is very wonderful. And when we think of it, we may well sing out our thankfulness in the words of the hymn:
"I am glad that our Father in heaven
Tells of his love in the Book he has given;
Wonderful things in the Bible I see;
This is the sweetest, that Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves—even me"
And when we think of all the kind words and actions of Jesus, by which he showed his interest in little children, the first thing that we see in them is—great love.