The song Reckless Love has been a favorite of the church for well over a year now. It was a massive success and has changed the way a lot of people view God’s love. There has been some backlash from Christians as well saying that the term “Reckless” is sacrilegious and not an adjective we should use to describe God or his love.
What does this word mean, and should it be used to describe God’s love? Let’s find out:
God’s Love
The word of God has been around for thousands of years. Judaism, the precursor to Christianity, has hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of words describing God and his love.
One of the most popular descriptions of his love is found in the book of Exodus:
Exodus 34:6
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
This phrase is repeated throughout, even in subtler forms like in Psalm 23:
Psalm 23:6
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever. (NLT)
There are other phrases used as well. But ultimately the one way to describe God’s love is unfailing; ie steadfast. I’d love to do a blog post about God’s steadfast love soon, so keep an eye out for that.
Cory Asbury
The writer of Reckless Love is Cory Asbury, a writer / musician at Bethel Church, a church which has had a lot of controversy in heretical teaching and faking spiritual activities.
The following quote is part of Cory’s response to the criticism around his song.
Sometimes religious spirit is scared to say things to God because they’re scared He’s going to smite us.
But God already knows what we’re thinking before we even say it out loud. God wants us to be honest with Him, just like David was in the Psalms. God’s not offended by it. He’s just waiting for you to be honest so He can actually meet you in that place.”
Hearing his response, I immediately felt a sense of dismay. His response was at best dismissive and defensive; accusing his dissenters of overbearing piety and a religious attitude. Why do Christians take issue with this word, reckless?
Reckless?
The word Reckless in the Greek is translated ‘Propetes’; meaning, to fall forwards, headlong, sloping, precipitously precipitate, rash, reckless.
Miriam Webster's definition of the word are the following:
1: marked by lack of proper caution : careless of consequences
2: IRRESPONSIBLE : reckless charges
Synonyms
daredevil, devil-may-care, foolhardy, harum-scarum, hell-for-leather, irresponsible, kamikaze
Antonyms
Responsible
Here are the examples of the usage of ‘Propetes’ in the New Testament:
2 Timothy 3:1–5
Godlessness in the Last Days
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (ESV)
Acts 19:36
Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. (ESV)
The following examples are just the English word reckless, translated from different words in the Hebrew:
Judges 9:4
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him.
Proverbs 14:16
One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless.
Jeremiah 23:32
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.
In the Bible, God’s love is never referred to as reckless. As you’ve seen, reckless only has a negative connotation biblically. This is why it’s so important to so many Christians. It’s not a sense of being over religious and stilted, but a desire to worship Him properly and with full reverence.
“He is utterly unconcerned with the consequences of His actions with regards to His own safety, comfort, and well-being,” says Cory.
Cory’s intended meaning of reckless was that he didn’t care about the cost of saving us, which isn’t actually true. God did weigh the cost (Matthew 26:36-56) and again while on the cross, him feeling the full weight of it in Mark 15:34. That’s why Jesus tells us to count the cost of following him (Luke 14:25-34).
John 10:18
No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.
It wasn’t a reckless or rash decision. It was first spoken of in Genesis 3:
Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” (ESV)
Godly Inspiration & Importance of Sound Theology in Worship
The reason why these kinds of conversations are so important is oftentimes, although this shouldn’t be the case, most people get their theology from worship songs. I can’t even count the amount of times I've heard people claim God’s love as being reckless.
Aside from the theological issues, another problem is the divide it creates. If it’s causing an issue of division, the best thing to do is to drop the song. Paul made this point many times in the epistles:
Ephesians 4:1–3
Unity in the Body of Christ
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (ESV)
Paul uses this same sentiment towards drinking wine, or eating certain foods. He says there is nothing wrong with drinking wine or eating any type of food, but if it violates someone else’s conscience, then to preserve unity, those things shouldn’t be done in front of them. (1 Corinthians 10:23–33)
Remedy to Lyric
As I stated earlier, Exodus describes God’s love as steadfast, meaning firmly fixed in place : immovable. b : not subject to change. 2 : firm in belief, determination, or adherence : loyal.
The lyrics of the song are the following:
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
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
To me the solution is to simply replace reckless with the word Steadfast or Selfless. Both of these words thematically fit. That God fights for us and leaves the 99 sheep in search of the 1; a statement from Matthew 18:12.
Conclusion
What believers need to be doing is analyze each song individually. If not, it’d be like buying a random hallmark card, and giving it to your spouse but not reading what was written on the inside. While God is our friend, he is also our Lord, and is worthy of all respect and honor. He is holy and should be treated as holy.
Good read 👏
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