I know some people will accuse me of playing the old lady,
fuddy-duddy card here. But guess what: I’m disturbed by the popular CCM song, “Reckless
Love.” This despite hearing it in many contexts where sound doctrine is preached,
and the Word of God is rightly divided. I have even heard it in a Reformed church!
The lyrics for the most part are pretty good. The first
verse is reminiscent of Ps. 139 and Jeremiah 1:5.
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
As to the chorus, there is no question that God’s love is
overwhelming and never-ending, but… reckless?
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
I thought perhaps reckless had a shade of meaning with which
I was not familiar, so I googled the definition in several dictionaries:
- Oxford: without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action; heedless of danger or the consequences of one's actions; rash or impetuous
- Merriam-Webster: marked by lack of proper
caution; careless of consequences
- The Free Dictionary: acting or done with a lack of care or caution; careless or irresponsible
- Merriam-Webster: daredevil, devil-may-care, foolhardy, harum-scarum, hell-for-leather, irresponsible, kamikaze
- Dictionary.com: rash, heedless, incautious, negligent, imprudent
- Collins Thesaurus: careless, wild, rash, irresponsible, precipitate, hasty, mindless, negligent, headlong, madcap, ill-advised, regardless, foolhardy, daredevil, thoughtless, indiscreet, imprudent, heedless, devil-may-care, inattentive, incautious, harebrained, harum-scarum
Can you find even one word in there that accurately
describes God or his love? So why are we singing this in our Bible-believing,
evangelical churches?
This song is a production of Bethel Music,
where I found the lyrics (printed in entirety at the end of the blog post). After
the lyrics, there is a statement by the songwriter which indicates that he knew
reckless might not sit well with some people. He says:
"When I used the phrase,
'the reckless love of God,' when we say it, we're not saying that God Himself
is reckless, He's not crazy. We are, however, saying that the way He loves, is
in many regards, quite so. But what I mean is this: He's utterly unconcerned
with the consequences of His own actions with regard to His own safety, comfort
and well-being. He doesn't wonder what He'll gain or lose by putting Himself on
the line, He simply puts Himself out there on the off-chance that you and I
might look back at Him and give Him that love in return." - Cory Asbury. https://bethelmusic.com/chords-and-lyrics/reckless-love/
Methinks he doth protest too much and knew
that reckless was really not a good word choice. I don’t blame him completely
because I don’t expect theological sophistication from a songwriter, but I
would think one of the Biblically trained pastors at Bethel Church would be on
top of an issue like this.
Having said all that, I do enjoy
this song and find it very “singable” (not true of all CCM). But when I sing
it, I insert a more accurate word, such as…
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, sovereign
love of God OR
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, faithful
love of God OR
Glorious OR righteous OR saving OR holy…
You get the idea. Let’s exalt our God in TRUTH.
Reckless Love
Written by Cory Asbury, Caleb Culver, and Ran
Jackson
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
