There is a popular song that I'm sure you've heard before. It's chorus goes...
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God It chases me down, fights till I'm found, leave the ninty-nine I don't deserve it. I didn't earn it. Still, you give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God (Reckless Love, Cory Asbury)
When this song came out, I remember seeing a mixed response. Most people loved it (then again, Christian media is notorious for earning instant fans if promoted by the right people or if it says the word "Jesus" enough times). A smaller group of nay-sayers seemed to point out that the lyrics implied that God was somehow "reckless" meaning he was careless and unintentional. Way to ruin a good song, guys. Beyond silly arguments over semantics, there is an important lesson we can all learn from this song and the response it elicited.
There is a sense of recklessness about our calling, at least when viewed from the world's eyes. When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, he was doing something disrespectful to his ethnicity, offensive to his culture, and potentially dangerous. Yet, he was drawn by his love for someone in need... he was reckless. When Jesus turned the tables in the temple, he was committing acts that put him on the radar for officials and old-world "peace officers". He didn't care about them because he was overwhelmed by righteous indignation in the face of those who profaned the Temple... he was reckless. When Jesus had opportunity after opportunity to build rapport with the Pharisees and religious elite, he instead pushed them away in favor of associating with the poor, the lame, and the sinful... he was reckless.
In each instance, we can see the reckless nature of God; not due to a lack of thought or wisdom but because of what God knows is truly important. A verse comes to mind...
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. 26 For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?" (Matthew 16:24-26)
It is easy to get wrapped-up in the expectations of this world and forget what our hearts and minds should really be focused on. You definitely feel this when leading a ministry or church activity. There are all kinds of expectations for how involved you will be in the community, how many trips you host, what services and amenities you offer to your guests, and how well you are keeping up with the churches, ministries, or faith groups down the road.
What if... we didn't care about that? What if instead of worrying about the things that make sense, we worried about people? What if we worried about compassion? What if we worried about service? If the only thing our faith moves us to do is to be a "slightly better person", then it's barely worth giving it time once a week. What moves us from a casual, Jesus-inspired fan to a follower of a living God is being willing to live reckless in the eyes of a world that thinks it has things all figured out.
Be reckless, but be the right type of reckless. Be a reckless which causes you to stress less and less about what society tells you to worry about, and drives you more and more in love with God and the people he has placed in your life.
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