Devotion written by me for Women’s group #1

God’s love is Reckless for us!  

Cory Asbury wrote the song “Reckless Love” as an incredible anthem that marvels at the depth of God’s love for us.  In explaining the meaning behind the song, Cory says, “When he uses the phrase, ‘the reckless love of God,’ he is not saying that God Himself is reckless. He is however, saying that the Way He loves us, in many regards, is quite reckless. His love bankrupted heaven for us. His love doesn’t consider Himself first. His love isn’t selfish or self-serving. He doesn’t wonder what He’s going to gain or lose by putting Himself out there. He simply gives Himself away on the off-chance that one of us might look back at Him and offer ourselves in return. 

The recklessness of His love is seen most clearly in this  – He gets Himself hurt over and over and over again. (Because our sin pains His heart)  Yet, He continues to open up and Loves us, no matter what. We as Christians all struggle with this. We have a hard time loving those who hurt us. We often run away from hurt instead of recklessly loving the person who has hurt us. Or we choose not to show love to someone who sees things differently than us.  Is it because chasing after someone to love takes time, energy and can cause more hurt in the process? Probably, but Our God does it anyways!  

His love saw us when we disliked/hated the things of God and when we chose our own ways over His. And with knowing that…God still said, ‘I don’t care if it kills me. I’m laying my heart on the line.”

And guess what?  He will do it again and again! He sees our worth for what it really is. He doesn’t hold onto our actions or the pain that we have caused him in our sins.  He let’s go of all of those things and chases after us.  No matter what, He won’t stop loving Us!

It’s a whole lot easier to “just Love” someone than it is to be “recklessly IN love” with them. As Christians we love with caution. Although, when we pray, we can ask God to change our hearts to love like He does. If we really strive to love recklessly, we would become more like him. We tend to love with conditions. We give consequences to people who hurt us, and we even withhold our love from people, instead of giving it freely.  It has become the norm to love “cautiously” instead of “recklessly.”  God doesn’t ever hold back His love for us. He tears down walls, moves mountains and chases after us at times. More often than not, we don’t even pursue people, let alone chase after those we are called to love.  (people in our family, our friends, our neighbors, orphans, widows and those who seem unloving) We rarely go the extra mile, seek out people that are different than ourselves, or even pray for particular mountains to be moved, so that we can love others with a reckless love.

Parents, just think about it….we would kick some booty for our kids!  We would chase down the enemy and crush everything we could, just to show our love to and for our children.  We have more of a “reckless love” comparison when we think of how we love our children.  But Oh how overwhelming is His love in comparison to how we will ever be capable of loving our children!

His love for us is too much for us to ever comprehend….

Ohhhh if we could Love like that! We should all strive to love people recklessly! People who have hurt us, people who are different than us, and even people who have ran from us or turned their backs on us. Everyone deserves Christs love.  May we have the same grace as God, when we have the opportunity to show His love to others.    

Let the words to this song penetrate into your heart                                                               Click this link and listen to the song  – RECKLESS LOVE -Cory Asbury

• How can YOU try to love differently?
• Is there a person/situation in your life that is in serious need of some “Reckless Love”  the kind that won’t give up or turn away…no matter what?

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the Reckless Love that you have for us. Thank you for loving us despite our failures and our sins. Thank you for your sweet grace, in all of the times that we should have loved someone differently and were unlovable are selves.  I pray that you show us your ways. Teach us to also love recklessly.  Help us to love all people that you place in our lives.  Mold our hearts, enhance our passion, and make clear our pursuits, as we grow in your love for others.  Let people experience and get to know you through the Love that we show them.  Help us to have mercy and grace in the midst of hurts. Give us persistence and strength, that we may not give up easily, on people who need your love.  Use us and show us that through you….We too have the ability to Love Recklessly!

In your name, Amen