The Adoption of Unbiblical Truth - Is God's Love Reckless?
“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.”
This sounds good at first, and it has a memorable tune. But
wait just a minute. Reckless? Give yourself away? While perhaps written with
good intentions, these words can be detrimental to any Christian, but can be
especially harmful to new Christians who haven’t yet gotten a firm handle on
theology for themselves. By definition, “reckless” is without regard or care. God
values decency and order (1 Cor. 14:40.) If God didn’t care (i.e. was reckless,)
would He have bothered to send Christ to Calvary? Would He not have left us in
our miserable state after the fall of man? We know that God has known us since
before we were born and has had a plan since before time was created (Jer. 1:4-5,
Psa. 139:13-16.) How does this pattern of behavior in any way point to
recklessness?
Some argue that God’s ways appear “reckless” to us because
we are human. We know that His ways are above our ways. (Isa. 55:8-9.) But the
human depravity that limits our understanding of God does not inherently change
the character of God. Just because we don’t understand God’s agenda entirely at
any given point in time does not change who He is: an entirely sovereign being
that is working all things together for good according to His purpose (Rom.
8:28.) How could we, a broken and finite people, ever think that we could
understand the infinite mind of God alone or without His direction? God is not
reckless. Time and time again, Scripture shows how God is orderly and
unchanging. Everything that happens is by His design and not a speck of it is
without regard or takes Him by surprise. If it did, He would fail to be
omnipotent and omniscient; He would fail to be God.
Another troubling piece of this chorus is the line “still
you give yourself away.” It implies an ongoing action. While God’s mercies are
new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23,) the sacrifice at Calvary was once and for all
sufficient (Heb. 10:10-18.) There is a difference between giving us new grace,
which has been available because of the completed work on Calvary, and
re-sacrificing for sins that have already been covered. This phrase creates an
unstable theological foundation that cannot be ignored. If there are still
sacrifices to be made, then Christ wasn’t fully sufficient. If He wasn’t, then
He would fail to be God.
The remaining lyrics of the chorus ring true as scripturally
accurate; isn’t this mixing of true and untrue exactly how the enemy operates?
Adding a twist on the truth makes it a sweeter pill to swallow. This is the same old trick that Satan used on Eve in
the Garden of Eden. The power in it is that by the time you notice a
difference, you’re so far out of line with Scripture, you’re appalled.
Despite the Scriptural truth found throughout the rest of
the chorus, these few lines introduce a pattern of undermining who God says He
is. These types of statements have seemed to slowly find their ways into the
pulpits of churches across the nation. One way this happened is the Church allowing
the world to define it. In this case, the world’s definition is informing the
church’s concept of love. It should be the other way around! As A.W. Tozer once
said, “love is something true of God, but it is not God.” As Christians, we must
always be wary of the things that we casually accept as true (1 Pet. 5:8) and “Christian”
just because of a label. The widespread acceptance of unscriptural principles
is a slippery slope, especially to those new to the faith. Before we know it, we’ll
see we have been drastically impacted by things that we didn’t realize were
harming us. So the next time you hear a catchy tune on the radio, look into the
lyrics before incorporating it into your theology.
Sources:
Asbury, Cory. Reckless Love. Bethel Music. (2018.)
Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of the Holy. HarperOne. (1961.)
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