****JESUS, THOU JOY OF LOVING HEARTS

The hymn, JESUS, THOU JOY OF LOVING HEARTS, comes from a portion of a very long, ancient poem written by Bernard of Clairvaux.  

The first stanza reads like Bernard’s personal testimony.  He was a wealthy nobleman by birth.  He had tasted the “best bliss that earth imparts.”  But he wasn’t satisfied so, he gave up everything and turned to Jesus.

The dictionary defines bliss as supreme happiness; utter joy, or contentment:

What would the world’s best bliss look like for you?  The world has their ideas (money, power, influence, prestige, education, fame, family, good health) but the supreme happiness, the utter joy, the contentment that those things bring are fleeting.  Just when we think we have it, we become bored and want something more.

At one time, John D. Rockefeller was the world’s richest man and first American billionaire.  There is an unverified story about a reporter who asked him, “How much money is enough?” To which he allegedly responded, “Just a little bit more.”

So, how much is enough?  Can we ever get enough to make us happy?  Well, unlike some health and prosperity gospel preachers who claim that “we can have our best lives now,” God’s Word tells us otherwise.

 King Solomon had great wealth, power, notoriety, and unparalleled wisdom, and yet he considered all of life’s best bliss to be vanity.  Listen to some of his words from Ecclesiastics 1.

^“What profit has a man from all his labor?  The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.  There is nothing new under the sun.

“I was king over Israel in Jerusalem.  And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven;   I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

“And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly.  I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.   For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”

The Apostle Paul looked for worldly bliss in his religion. Here is a list of his boasted accomplishments in Philippians 3:

“I was circumcised on the eighth day. 

“I was born a member of God’s chosen people, the Israelites.

“I was part of Israel’s favored clan, the tribe of Benjamin.

“I was a son of Hebrew parents and able to speak the Hebrew language.

“I was a member of the Jewish religion, and part of the most strict and prestigious group of all the Jews, the Pharisees.

“My zeal for God was so great that I even persecuted Christians.

“I was blameless before God; I followed every law of my religion!”

But, Paul too, was unfulfilled and, about his best bliss,  he continued:

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord… I consider [my accomplishments] as rubbish that I may gain Christ, I want to know Christ.”

The best bliss the world can offer is unsatisfying and fleeting.  In this hymn of prayer, the author points our hearts to the Joy of knowing Jesus.   He is the Fountain of Life, the Light of men, the Truth, and our Good Savior.  He is the Bread of Life for our hungry hearts, and He is the Living Water for our thirsty souls.

He is our Eternal Bliss.


[This is a new hymn for me.  The melody is unfamiliar but it works well with music for other hymns written in the same meter.   Try it to the tune of "O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee."]