Is God's Love Reckless?

Is God’s Love Reckless?

There’s a new song out written by Cory Asbury and produced by Bethel music it’s called “Reckless Love.” This song has won many awards this year and has been number one on the Christian and Gospel Billboard chart and even high on the

secular charts. Many have thrown their hat in the ring with critique of its message including John Piper, Relevant Magazine, etc. This song is so popular in fact, we could say that it is the “How He Loves” of 2018 (which was written by John Mark McMillan and covered by David Crowder).

The lyrics of the chorus of “Reckless Love” are...

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, I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

So I want to throw my hat in the ring also to ask the question if God’s love is indeed Reckless? Or if He is reckless or if maybe the expression of His love is reckless? I was brought to this topic because we sang this song on Sunday at church. I thought immediately to myself that, “God’s love is NOT reckless!” I became quickly distracted and could not sing the rest of the song because I was so disturbed in my spirit that we might think or sing that God’s love was reckless. 

To avoid any confusion of terms we need to define the word reckless. I will define it like the artist Cory Asbury defined it so that I am consistent with his intentions and meaning. He defines reckless as “He (God) is utterly unconcerned with the consequences of His actions in regards to His own safety, comfort, and well-being.” He has defined it in this way, but what does the first language English speaker think when they hear the term reckless. My thoughts went to a more precise definition like that given by the Oxford dictionary. Oxford defines reckless as, “Heedless of danger or the consequences of one's actions; rash or impetuous.” All you need is a good thesaurus to gain a broader understanding of the word. Some synonyms are without caution, rash, careless, thoughtless, inattentive, hasty, impetuous, or impulsive, 

First of all we need to be fair to artists. Artistic license should be granted to those who are writing music, poems, and or otherwise using art to describe a seemingly indescribably awesome God. I want to grant Asbury grace in that, however that does not let him and other artists off the hook for not describing the nature, character, and works of God in precise, and accurate ways. I know also that artists choose words and ideas sometimes, as Asbury said he has here, to shock us on purpose. I also want to give leeway for those instances. But the more I thought about this the more I cannot get over the usage of this word in description of what God’s love is like. 

Asbury clearly states that he is not saying that God is reckless. However, that is a reckless thing to say...that God does reckless stuff, but His character is not reckless. That is like saying that as a father I am not reckless but I do reckless stuff with my kids. Doing reckless things with or for my kids would make me a reckless father. Asbury cannot have it both ways. Put a different way, maybe we say God sometimes acts without wisdom, but his character is wise. It doesn't compute. God only acts as defined by his character and he cannot change his character to act in an unwise way. For instance, it would be correct to say, God is wise and thus all his actions are wise. In the same way God is not reckless in his character, thus he cannot act recklessly or do seemingly reckless things. They may seem reckless to us but they are not reckless and should not be characterized as such. He cannot act recklessly either in the the doing or carrying out of his loving actions.

Looking at the definition again, we cannot say any part of God’s nature is rash, careless, thoughtless, inattentive, hasty, impetuous, or impulsive but that is the definition of reckless. He is none of those things, thus He cannot act in that way. He is rather the exact opposite of all those things. God is thoughtful, attentive, long suffering, patient, calm, circumspect, considerate, thoughtful, and wise. And those things of his character do not change, “I the Lord change not, therefore you oh sons of Jacob are not destroyed.” (Malachi 3:6) The triune God has eternally exercised his love, even before we were created. The triune God has exercised love from before time because He is love (1 John 4:8). God’s love is expressed in several dimensions, benevolence, grace, mercy, and persistence. Persistence may be what Asbury is really trying to get at. God is often described in the New Testament as withholding judgement and continuing to extend his love and grace over long periods of time. His persistence, patience and long suffering is also on display over and over again with Israel in the Old Testament. One of the most popular verses that display Gods persistence and patience is found in 1 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter‬ ‭3:9‬ ‭ESV‬‬). He is persistent in that He is persistently giving man chances over and over again to respond in repentance to His offer of love and grace. 

Furthermore, God’s love is not reckless but meticulously, precisely planned, and carefully coordinated within the eternal Trinity. We see this clearly in the first chapters of the Bible, that His plan was actually an eternal plan. Right after Adam fell God said, “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."”‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭3:15‬ ‭ESV). This verse has long been understood at a prophetic statement referring to what Jesus would do on the cross. Is the cross an ultimate statement of God’s love? Yes it is the ultimate statement of every part of His character. The cross makes it possible for man to receive God’s love and grace. It is the expression and propitiation of his justice, righteousness, perfection, holiness and every other part of His character. The cross was planned by the Trinity from long before the fall, the fall was no surprise to God. He didn’t react and say, “well then I better come up with a pretty reckless plan to win them back!” In a video of the song “Reckless Love” (seen below) Asbury explains some thoughts that led to the song... “He (God) doesn’t wonder what he will gain or loose by putting himself on the line. He simply puts himself out there in the off chance that you and I might look back at him and give him that love in return.” The extension of the love of God is not a mishap or an “off chance.” This paints God as a being that just hopes against hope that we will love Him too. According to this God risks giving love for the “off chance” that you will return love.

God is not leaving his love to chance, or bending the laws of nature like the reckless superhero Ironman blowing everything up in his way to save the love interest of that particular Ironman sequel film. His love is not extended so that He could possibly have the chance to be with us like we are the center of the universe. He is extending his love and grace continually because He is love and grace (1 John 4:8; 1 Corinthians 13:11), and we would only find true love and grace in Him. He isn’t bending over backwards so that He can be with us, but rather He has made it possible that we can be with Him! Peter confirms this idea in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,” (‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭3:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

The devil is actually the reckless character in the spiritual realm. He comes to “steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10)." And he, “prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8)." We could say that God didn’t care about the “consequences of the actions of his love.” But that is also misleading. Did Jesus know of the consequences of His looming death on the cross? And the separation and sin-bearing that He would experience? Of course, and He even asked for God to remove the cup of wrath! And His soul was agonizing to the point of death! He knew and embraced the consequences, and cared deeply about them. But Jesus went through it because it was the will of the Father. And He loves the Father that’s why He follows through on His Father's will. Jesus said, “But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.” John 14:31) 

I would like to gently lead us, and maybe even Asbury and the whole Bethel worship team, that has often put man in the center of the worship universe, to a fuller more accurate picture of the character of the love of God. I hope this post at least gets us thinking of the Bethel leanings toward Pelagianism (see video below), and a God that only sent his Son to the cross because He thought we were that valuable. Pelagianism is the teaching that people are not born into sin, and that "people are good and mean to do good even if they are not saved." (Quote from Eric Johnson Pastor at Bethel)


Of course this is flat out wrong and condemned in Pelagianism at the Councils of Carthage and Ephesus! I beg you to consider the source of your worship songs and the theology that stands behind certain worship movements. Because theology affects and influences liturgy and vice versa. That is why I wrote “Divergent Theology” to expose these terribly unorthodox theological leanings. I have spent much time in that book dealing with the theology, teaching, and practice of Bethel and the New Apostolic Reformation. 

In closing, I would like to say that using this verbiage in reference to the love of God most likely will mislead people as to the true character of God. I fear it could confuse people, make man more important than he is and make God less worthy than He is. When I believe that God is in reckless pursuit of me, then I elevate my worth over and against God’s infinite worth. When He is Reckless in pursuit of me, He actually becomes Feckless and the concept of his Recklessness backfires. This concept, I fear, turns God into hopeless romantic with no backbone, and the result is a Feckless God. The truth is, that God extends His love because He is love, not because we are so desirous to Him. We sinners are utterly undesirable to a holy God. But because He is the center of the universe, and it would be a terribly unloving thing to keep himself to himself, He extends His love to us because He is love. And it is all “to the praise of His glory.” So let’s be thoughtful as we sing “Reckless Love” and all other worship songs because liturgy affects, forms, and informs our theology. And we definitely want to believe the right stuff about God. Right?