I Want To Know What Love Is

Foreigner, a band popular during my growing up years, had a hit song with a memorable chorus which I felt and still feel, is a silent anthem in many aching hearts - "I want to know what love is, I want you to show me ..."


1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us..." 

Because God loves us, we love people. And because we love God,we love people!


Experiencing God's love should profoundly bring us into a process of change. Quality change in how we treat people around us. 


God's love must literally change us if it's to be real love. Much of what the world calls love would fit more accurately into the categories of lust, sex, and pleasure seeking hedonism.

God's love is as different as the sun is, compared to the moon. Without the sun, the moon will forever be in darkness. Because of the sun, the moon has light. 


Even then we need reminders about true love - God's love for us, and our love for people.

Loving people is not a technique. It's about changing our thinking. Our thinking affects our being. Our being affects our doing. Therefore to change our behavior, we've got change the way we think first. 

And how should we think? Here's some food for thought.

In Jesus Christ we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). As new creations we have received God's love (Romans 5:5). And so we can love others with God's love. What is poured into us will determine what pours out of us!

The more we know God's love for us, the more we grow to love others. It's really about our quality of relationship with Jesus. In fact His influence rubs off - we become like Him! In His presence & through His Word we become aware of God's love and God's forgiveness as we confess our sins and failures. Beyond that, we become spiritually alive & live productive lives! (John 15:4-5).

The more we see people as Christ sees them, the more we are able to love them as Christ does. We view our world of people as precious because Jesus died for the world. We view believers as our family in God (Matthew 12:48-50). We forgive easily and bear with one another in love (Colossians 3:12-14). We love, respect & honor one another because whatever we do to one another, we do it unto Jesus (Matthew 25:34-40). Jesus feels it!

The truth is that we become loving only as we decide to love others. Loving is not about feelings. It's about making the decision to show love practically through our words and deeds (James 2:14-18).