The Psalmist begins Psalm 116 with “I love the Lord” then list reasons why he loves God. What about you? Do you love the Lord?

Do you love God?

Do you love the Lord Jesus, the Christ?

Me? I love the Lord. I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus who is the Christ, the Messiah (God’s Anointed).  Why?  What would cause such enamor?

• I Love Him because every time that Roman scourge tore His flesh leaving lacerations, they were not rightfully His, but He took them for me.
• I Love Him because the pain from every thorn from the crown that pierced His head was not His, but He took it for me
• I Love Him because every inch of flesh severed by the spikes nailing Him to the cross were not for His crimes, but mine.  He took them for me.
• I Love Him because the ridicule he endured was not for His inconsistent living, but for mine.  He took it for me.
• I Love Him because the blood that poured out from His spear-pierced side did not atone for His sins (for He had none) but for mine.  He took it for me.
• I Love Him because He first loved me and on that rough-hewn cross, a man called Jesus, the Word of God that became flesh, took it for me.

I Love Him and I long to be near Him.  My favorite hymn expresses this desire clearly: