I Want to Know What Love Is

A couple weeks ago Janice and I got to see one of our favorite 70’s / 80’s rock n’ roll bands play. Foreigner. They don’t fill up the huge concert venues like they used to but they still put on a great show for us old codgers.

On the day of the concert I was on my 30 minute commute to work and I thought I would listen to some of Foreigner’s songs so I would be familiar with what they would be playing that night at the concert. So I plugged in my IPod to my car stereo, searched through the Artist list, hit Foreigner and Shuffle and started my drive to work.

Foreigner is probably best known for their rock songs such as Double Vision, Hot Blooded, and Juke Box Hero but they also had some great hits with their slower “love songs.” It was one of those songs that first came on as I pulled out of the neighborhood. Resisting the urge to forward it to the next song or to find one of my favorite, more “rockier” songs I decided to let the first go ahead and play.

The song playing was, I Want to Know What Love Is. A great song I must say. I am not sure how long it had been playing or how many times it had gone through the chorus before I actually heard what the band was singing. And while singing along in my best “gosh I wish I was a rock star” voice the words to the chorus seemed to come alive.

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me

And just as these words were playing, I happened to drive by a house that had a nativity scene in their front yard. Then these words really came alive.

And it hit me; this is truly what Christmas is all about. Well, at least that is what the first Christmas was about.

After thousands of years of man trying to follow God’s teachings and laws and those teachings and laws being distorted by man. And then after almost 400 years of no word from God at all you can almost hear mankind crying out with,

I wanna know what love is,
I want You to show me.


So God did.

So God sent his son Jesus to show us what love is. And nothing says “love” better than a new born baby. A baby is love in its purest form. Innocent and vulnerable with a huge amount of cute and cuddly thrown in.

Who doesn’t love a new born baby? And on that first Christmas day this baby, this Jesus, received the love He deserved. And not only from His parents but from lowly shepherds and mighty kings as well. But as we all know a new born baby doesn’t give out a lot of love. It is more about receiving love. And Jesus didn’t just come to receive love. He came to show us what love is. And who to love. And how to love.

So He left the comfort and the security of His mother’s arms and took His first steps toward the cross. But along that walk He showed us love every step of the way.

He showed us love in His teachings and His healings. He showed us love in His touch and His tears. He showed us love for His father’s house as He chased away those that had mocked it. And He showed love to a rich young ruler even as he turned and walked away. He loved the unlovely. He showed love to all twelve of his chosen disciples even though some of them would doubt Him, deny Him, and betray Him. And then in His greatest act of love He showed us that love for you and me and not the piercing nails would hold Him to the cross. Now that is love.

Things really haven’t changed much from that first Christmas. I think we are still crying out, I wanna know what love is and I want you to show me. And God is still showing us.

That amazing sunrise. A shoulder to cry on. That laughter shared with friends. The peace you feel in the middle of the storm. And that bible on your night stand. All of these are ways that God is screaming out His love for us.

So during this Christmas season please know this. If you are crying out

I wanna know what love is
I want You to show me.

You can. God has. God will.