I can’t do it.  I won’t do it.  I won’t bite my tongue and keep this topic buried deep down festering like an ingrown toenail any longer.

It was my hope it would go away.  I prayed that the church, God’s people, would recognize the lie, seek repentance, and turn away from it.  I thank the Lord my church has.  But it’s still there.  It’s on the radio, tattooed on friends’ bodies, and attributed to someone who Christians are calling Jesus.  It is Reckless Love.

The word reckless contradicts everything that God is, and worse, saying God’s love is reckless goes against everything found in scripture, yet Christians justify the songs meaning, say it’s poetic, or that it’s all the other lyrics of the song they like. 

Perhaps it’s the Armor of God study by Priscilla Shirer that we just wrapped up today that has given me the boldness to finally speak out.  Time and time again she emphasized the importance to take every thought, every decision, every action, everything we speak, under the lens, the scrutiny, of God’s Word. 

When Reckless Love first aired on the radio, I thought there is no way people will stand for this.  As soon as the song would start, we’d flip the station but I was confident it wouldn’t last.  A few months later my husband and I saw posts from our old church praising the song and saying how much they loved it.  We both commented how fortunate we were that we no longer went there.  Then a few months later to my horror, my church sang it as a worship song for Sunday service.  My stomach physically got nauseous.  I got up and went to the bathroom and literally in tears asked God to forgive our church, that they didn’t realize what they were singing. 

God’s Steadfast Love – 196 times ESV 

The scrutiny of God’s Word

That day in June, I went home and studied what the scriptures, God’s Word, says about His love.  I wrote it in my journal.  You know what I learned?  God’s Steadfast Love is mentioned over 196 times in the Bible.  It comes from the Hebrew word “Chesed” which is used more than 250 times, also translated as loving kindness, mercy and loyalty.  Can you guess how many times the bible references God’s love as reckless?  Zero.  Zilch.  Not once. 

By definition reckless means without thinking or caring about the consequences.  Lack of caution; irresponsible.

That is not my Jesus.  He is deliberate.  He is never reckless in His love for us.  Jesus seeks those who God has called.  He saves those who believe in Him.  This was all planned before the formation of the earth!  The very opposite of reckless. 

My Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, is steadfast.  Steadfast by definition is resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.  Firmly fixed in place.  Not subject to change. 

But I never said anything to anyone.  Just journaling it help me and I prayed.  I prayed our church would stop singing it.  I prayed it wouldn’t be brought up during bible study because I didn’t want to rock the boat or offend anyone.  I prayed that God would open the eyes of our worship team to see the error of the lyrics, that God is anything but reckless.

I asked my husband to write a blog post that would be much more theology deep than anything I could write.  He started it but never finished it.  So, I just kept praying. 

The song did come up in conversation at a CEF fellowship one summer day about what a beautiful song it was and I felt my cheeks get hot.  I felt that nausea in my stomach.  I told myself to keep quiet, that this is not the place.  But there were too many of “my girls” – my sisters whom I love dearly – and I could see they just didn’t understand the significance of what they were singing.  So, I shared my concern with them.  How the song does not line up with scripture, that is does not speak of God in truth and that we should not be singing this song especially as a worship song to Him!  I saw the expressions on their faces, the realization of the words and how they understood why I asked for Gods forgiveness.  To my relief, and very shaky hands after, they were supportive and appreciative of me bringing that to their attention.

I have no idea what happened after that.  No one from the worship team was there.  If they had been, I probably would have kept quiet.  Maybe not.  All I know it has never been played or sang again at our church and I praise the Lord for that regularly.

But it seems to be playing on the radio even more today than a year ago.  I continue to see posts praising the song.  And it’s obvious by now that it is not going away.

God’s Steadfast Love

So here I write.  I write the truth of what the scriptures speak of God’s love, not what a songwriter feels God’s love is.  I realize I may upset some people and that it’s controversial.  But I stand firm on the Word of Truth.  If anyone can show me in scripture where God’s love is reckless, I will recant.  But until then, I speak what I know to be true.

It is my hope and prayer that this post will bring to light the truth of God and for people to understand that words have meaning.  No matter how you try to spin it, reckless means exactly that – reckless.  And that is NOT our God.  If you believe God is love and God’s love is reckless, then you, my friend, believe you have a reckless God.  I don’t know about you, but that does not bring me much comfort or hope.

When my life is out of control, when I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I rest in God’s steadfast love – Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 136:26, Isaiah 54:10, Lamentations 3:22 and so many more.  Knowing God is love, and that His love is perfect, powerful, never changing, deliberate, selfless, great, unconditional and unwavering – anything but reckless, I know I can rely Him.  I can trust in His promises.  I can have peace amidst the chaos. 

“Your steadfast love never ceases.  Your mercies never come to an end.  They are new every day.  Great is Your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22,23