Reckless Love
I recently read an online post questioning if we should be singing the song “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury. The post questioned the idea of God being reckless with his love, and I must admit he made some good points. However, this song has filled me on so many occasions that I find myself living in God’s reckless love every day.
What does it mean to live under God’s reckless love? It does not mean we live under a careless God who takes his best shot and hopes it works. No, we live under the love of a God who will stop at nothing to bring his children home and keep us in a relationship with Him. One of my favorite self-descriptions of God is found in Exodus as the ten commandments are given to his people. As he commands his people not to create for themselves any images or gods for their worship, he says;
You shall not bow down to them or ,them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6 (ESV)
“For I the LORD your God am a jealous God.” This is not a Jerry Springer type of Jealousy, this is a love that will stop at nothing to rescue his children and keep them from harm. He will act in a way that would appear to be totally reckless to all outsiders. He will send his Spirit to pursue us with unmatched tenacity. He will send his Son to become like us and demonstrate his love for us as Paul writes;
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NIV)
Who does that? Who puts their son into harm’s way for those who reject his love? God does – in what can only be described by the world as reckless, but for those of us who grow to know the Father, we see that it is anything but reckless. It is a calculated, well-planned, premeditated event, the great culmination of an amazing Love from a God who, beyond all of my human reason loves and cares for me. Yes, even me!
The more I ponder this idea of God’s reckless love, the more I am amazed at the journey of life that God has taken me on these past 60+ years. Through the eyes of faith, I can see nothing but a relentless love that has come to my aid time after time. I have discovered that what makes this love reckless is not God but me. My recklessness has caused God to pursue me in ways that, to all outside observers, can only be seen as a reckless act of God. But this is simply because they do not know the whole story.
This Love of God that recklessly pursues me is grounded in the fact that God is my life's creator and giver. He has called me to be his very own child for reasons above my pay grade. When we lose sight, as the majority of Americans have, that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” then everything that God is and everything that God does has no context, and therefore it makes no sense. Worse than making no sense is that many see him as anything but loving when they hear us talk about our relationship with God.
I rejoice that in my recklessness God, my jealous God comes after me with an “overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love.” Cory Asbury, in terms we can relate to, unpacks this reckless love, ”
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me You have been so, so good to me When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me You have been so, so kind to me And oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah There’s no shadow You won’t light up Mountain You won’t climb up Coming after me There’s no wall You won’t kick down Lie You won’t tear down Coming after me
This is a powerful image of the nonstop action of a Father whose love knows no bounds. If you find yourself being pursued by God, Stop, Drop, and Pray. He won’t give up; you need to give in. When we submit to the amazing Love of God, we are welcomed into a fellowship, a family, where together we can find new Hope in a living Lord, new Joy in his amazing reckless love for us, and new Life in his recreating work within us. God never promised this life would be easy, but he did promise he would never leave us.
Something to Ponder: What recklessness is in your life that makes the Father fight for you?
