What is Love Anyway

My teenage years blossomed against the backdrop of the digital revolution of the eightes when video killed the radio star. I grew up looking at screens filled with space invaders, pac man and astroids. I was steadily dragged into the vortex of popular culture and one song stands out in my mind. A song that poses a vital question. "What is love anyway, does anybody love anybody anyway?" The song begins with a portrayal of a beautiful type of love that is not troubled by doubts.

I love you whether or not you love me
I love you even if you think that I don't
Sometimes I find you doubt my love for you, but I don't mind
Why should I mind, why should I mind

But in the chorus the question is raised.

What is Love anyway, does anybody love anybody anyway
What is Love anyway, does anybody love anybody anyway

In the search for the perfect love the song writer concludes that a perfect love without fear can't be found and therefore we should just accept that we will doubt each other.

Can anybody love anyone so much that they will never fear
Never worry never be sad
The answer is they cannot love this much nobody can
This is why I don't mind you doubting

It ultimately prepares the listener that through such doubts that you should be prepared to have people who love you finally decide to leave.

And maybe love is letting people be just what they want to be
The door always must be left unlocked
To love when circumstance may lead someone away from you
And not to spend the time just doubting

The question remained deep in my heart even if I did not perceive it. What is love anyway. Less than 12 months after this song was released I experienced my first love. Less than 8 months later I descended from the romantic peak of teen love to the pit of sorrow and emptiness feeling very much alone and wondering again what love is. During this time another song came onto the music scene which I listened to often at this time.

I gotta take a little time, a little time to think things over
I better read between the lines, in case I need it when I'm older

Now this mountain I must climb, feels like the world upon my shoulders
Through the clouds I see love shine, it keeps me warm as life grows colder

In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far, to change this lonely life

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

Even though the song writer spoke of the love of this world, there was a deeper heart cry and I caught it in my soul. It was a cry to my Creator - I want to know what love is, I want you to show me. 

As the power of the Brisbane winter began to wane in 1985, I was brought to the point of truly wanting an answer to this question. The love of God was revealed to me in the cross of Christ. A love beyond comprehension. A love that truly endures through the hatred of its enemies. Through the inspiration of the cross I tasted for a moment a love so free of fear, so powerfully tender and strong that my heart was captured by it. Yet once having glimpsed the summit of pure love, my jounrey to reach this place and remain there has continued. 

Over the past three years as I have studied the Scriptures and beheld the love of the Father as manifested in His Son, I have wept often and felt overwhelmed by a love I can't put into words. I can only behold it and marvel. 

In the last twelve weeks I have witnessed something so profound with respect to God's love that I now begin to believe that I could reveal this love that this musican had cried for 34 years ago. 

The reality of the words of Jesus that my heavenly Father does not judge or condemn me has began to impact me in ways I can't feel express. I have been judged and conversely judged people all my life. Judging, condemning and separation from people is the process of life until we become completely alone and all we can judge is ourselves. 

As I reflected on the lyrics of that song

I want to know what love is, I want you to show me

I began to cry at the thought of a dying world waiting for the revelation of the love of Christ in humanity. I felt the call to reveal this love though I feel completely incapable of revealing this, I believe that with God all things are possible. I look at my life from the inside and I just feel a deep sadness for what I have been. Yet I feel the sweet and tender love of the Father that does not condemn me. May the world around me see in me one who will turn the other cheek, love my enemies and determine to love in the face of hate. It's hard to grasp I could reveal this but now I have seen it in Christ, I am drawn to this light and all other things in this world become meaningless. 

I know what love is and I want to show it - Lord Jesus let me show your love to all around me.

I have loved thee