Alan Jackson - I Love To Tell The Story Lyrics
Lyrics
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above
Of Jesus and his glory
Of Jesus and his love
I love to tell the story
Because I know 'tis true
It satisfies my longings
As nothing else can do
I love to tell the story
'Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love
I love to tell the story
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest
And when in scenes of glory
I sing the new, new song
'Twill be the old, old story
That I have loved so long
I love to tell the story
'Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love
Video
Alan Jackson - I Love To Tell The Story (Live)
Meaning & Inspiration
Alan Jackson sings these lines with that steady, familiar twang, making it sound as easy as sitting on a front porch. "I love to tell the story," he says, "Of unseen things above."
It sounds nice. It sounds like a Sunday morning when the coffee is hot and the world hasn't started screaming yet. But I’m standing here in the back of the room, and I’m thinking about the times when "unseen things" feel a lot like "nonexistent things."
When the bank calls about the mortgage, or when you’re standing over a casket that’s far too small, the "unseen" feels cold. It’s thin air. To talk about glory when you’re currently drowning in the grit of a Tuesday afternoon—that’s the kind of thing that borders on Cheap Grace. It’s easy to sing about stories when life is hitting its marks. But what about when the story doesn't match the wreckage in the living room?
Jackson sings, "It satisfies my longings / As nothing else can do."
That’s a heavy claim. If I’m honest, my longings usually look like a desire for control, for a clean slate, or for the silence in my house to stop feeling so heavy. Does a story about Jesus actually fill that void? Or is it just a lullaby we hum to keep from looking at the cracks in the walls?
The Apostle Paul talks about being pressed, crushed, and struck down, yet not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). That feels closer to the truth than the porch-sitting comfort of this song. Paul’s version of the "old, old story" wasn't a platitude; it was something he held onto while he was literally being beaten for it. If the story is true, it shouldn’t just be something we tell when things are going well; it should be the only thing left when everything else burns.
But maybe the hunger Jackson mentions—that "hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest"—isn't about being satisfied by a fairy tale. Maybe it’s the desperation of someone who knows they have nowhere else to go. Like Peter told Jesus in John 6:68, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." It wasn't a comfortable admission; it was the realization that the alternative was total emptiness.
I don't know if this song actually reaches the places where life gets ugly. It feels like it wants to stay in the light. But sometimes, holding onto a story you don't fully understand is the only way to get through the night. I’m not sure it satisfies my longings, but I’m still standing here, listening to the track finish, wondering if I’m just waiting for a feeling or if there’s actually something underneath the melody that stays when the music stops.