Verse 1
Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me
Chorus
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, I don’t deserve it, still You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Verse 2
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
Bridge
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
Reckless love doesn’t sound so spiritual does it? But think with me for a minute, isn’t it that what God’s love for us is like? Leaving the 99 sheep to look for one that is lost,welcoming a son back home even after he has erred; the parable of the prodigal son.
Looking through the bible we encounter Peter the disciple of Jesus. In some ways it seems like Peter’s story with Jesus came to the sad end after the denial. After the resurrection when Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James and Salome the angel of the Lord tells them in Mark 16: 6-7
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go; tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
Peter shows up and while preparing Fish over a charcoal fire, Jesus asks him to feed his sheep. This is the same peter in the book of Acts. Peter who said 'silver and Gold I do not have but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk'.
Acts 7 reads on the stoning of Stephen;
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Saul encounters the Lord on his way to Damascus in Acts chapter 9. Knowing who Saul was he too appears too far gone for God to take him back. His life is turned around and he fully embraces winning souls into the Kingdom of God.
There’s the question as to how Paul was able to teach with authority and wisdom though he never was a disciple of Jesus. The answer given is that Saul had to have a good knowledge of the scriptures to persecute christians. When he met the Lord all this knowledge that he used for evil he set out to use it for good.
In the book of John chapter 4 Jesus has a conversation with the Samaritan at the well. In the exchange she denies Jesus water quoting their difference;
John 4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
In addition she questions this water that Jesus is talking about;
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
In Verse 17-18; 7 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
In conclusion verse 25-26
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
In some ways I thought Jesus would be irritated by her questions, her disbelief or her situation with different men. But far from my imagination Jesus isn’t appalled by these he’s patient with her till the end.
God’s ultimate desire for us is that we should find salvation in him.
We serve a God of good intentions. Ephesians 1: 4-5
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
There are days we feel like we are too far gone for God to call us his. On these days we skip church; we don’t connect to God in prayer and hardly read our bibles. In psalms 51: 16-17 King David tells the Lord;
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[a] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
On some days we believe this lie that we only come to God when we are perfect. We want to show him our good side while all wants for us is to come to him with a contrite heart.
If we were perfect then we wouldn’t need a savior. In 2 Corinthians 4-7 Paul writes;
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the Excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
The truth is on our own we can never achieve perfection. Prophet Isaiah writes all our righteous acts are like filthy rags before God. That’s why we need to come to Jesus that he can make us whole.
This is possibly why the writer of the song ‘Reckless love’ terms God’s love for us as one that's reckless.
For a perfect God you would think he wouldn’t do things like, sending Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners. Or that he would choose to use only the good stories in the bible. You would think he would be appaled by our countless failures still he's patient and kind.
Reckless love in deed.
