No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus

Written by Charles Weigle, I thought I would provide a little background on this particular hymn before you read the lyrics.  Charles Weigle was born in a Christian home in the late 1800’s.  He was one of 12 children who grew up in the Methodist Church in Lafayette, Indiana.  (I would imagine if there were 12 kids in the home back in the 1800’s, one was in a “close” family, whether you liked it or not).  He was interested in music and was trained at the Cincinnati Conservatory of music.  He later entered into the preaching ministry, but was also a songwriter with over 1,000 songs to his credit.  The story behind this particular hymn is as follows:

Mr. Weigle spent most of his adult life as an itinerant preacher and gospel songwriter.  After returning home from an evangelistic crusade, he found a note left from his wife of many years.  She told him that she could no longer handle his preaching lifestyle and being gone from home so much, so she had decided to leave him. He became so sad and despondent that he considered suicide many times because he felt that no one really cared.  His faith was later restored and he decided to write a hymn about what he learned during this difficult period in his life.  I hope you read the words pinned by a man who had felt severe pain and loss, and I hope you are encouraged by the truth he found during this tough time.

I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus,
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true;
I would tell you how He changed my life completely,
He did something that no other friend could do.

Chorus
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me,
O how much He cared for me.

All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me,
All my heart was full of misery and woe;
Jesus placed His strong and loving arms about me,
And He led me in the way I ought to go.

Ev’ry day He comes to me with new assurance,
More and more I understand His words of love;
But I’ll never know just why He came to save me,
Till some day I see His blessed face above.

Often times during tough situations in our lives, we may think “nobody cares.”  The reality is that people do care.  Their level of care and concern, however, is typically in direct correlation to how close they are to us.  If a family member hurts, a close family member’s care and concern is great.  However, we often times hear about tragic situations where we care and are concerned, but because we don’t have a direct connection to that person, we don’t care as much.  This is not a criticism of anyone, but a reality.  The writer of this hymn did not say “No one ever cared for me but Jesus.”  I believe he recognized people did care about him.  He probably had a loving church and a loving family.  But the reality was, as the title of this hymn echoes, no one ever cared for him like Jesus.  Christ’s knowledge of the depth of our pain is greater than anyone can ever know.  His love is more far-reaching that we can get from the closest of family members.  His empathy and sympathy far exceed what another human being can show to us.  He knows us, and loves us, and He truly cares about us.  It is encouraging to me to hear a story like this and know that in the deepest of despair and on the edge of contemplating suicide, this man could testify that Jesus met him there and cared for him.

Several years ago, Travis Tritt was famous for a country song entitled “Here’s a quarter, call someone who cares.”  It was his sarcastic way of saying to someone, “I don’t really care.”  When I was growing up and watching Oklahoma basketball games, there was a tradition at all the home games.  OU Students would bring newspapers, stand up, act like there were reading the paper, while the visiting team starters were introduced.  After each visiting player’s name was mentioned over the PA system, the students would scream “Who cares!!!”  Another sarcastic way of saying “I don’t care.”  When I was in high school, there was a gesture people used to do. They would pull their bottom eyelid down while there were listening to someone and say “Do you see any care in my eye?”

All three of those are examples, unfortunately, of the harsh reality of the world we live in.  People can be self-centered.  People can be so focused on their lives that they communicate (both directly and indirectly) that they don’t care.  I hope that we as Christians can communicate something entirely different to the world.  That by our actions, we can show people that we honestly care.  We care about their lives.  We care about what is best for them.  We care about their children and their family.  But more importantly, we communicate to them that there is one who cares about them more than we ever can, and that He, Jesus, cares about their souls.  We can show all the concern in the world to someone, but unless people are cared for and saved by Christ, our actions are in vain.

Do you care?  I hope you do.  I hope your actions display a tender care and compassion for people, and that by that “men will see your good works and glorify their Father in heaven.”