Reckless?

I heard a Christian song a couple of weeks ago that touched me deeply...however, there is one aspect...one word in the lyrics that cause me to hesitate in my enjoyment of it.  The word is: reckless...

The song uses the adjective "reckless" as one way to define God's love.  I don't think I like that since the connotations of the word are pretty negative.  Synonyms such as: rash, careless, thoughtless, irresponsible, ill-advised, imprudent, unwise, temerarious, kamikaze are not ideas we see as part of Our Great God's attributes in the Bible.  Quite the contrary.  When the Bible talks to us about God's love for us, it uses words that are overwhelmingly positive.  The word "Great" is one of the most commonly associated with His love.  Rich, Mighty, Powerful...not reckless.

Love is one of the most complex definitions of God (1 John 4: 8).

From our human perspective, however, defining what love is and describing what kind of love God has for us, is not an easy task.  There are volumes written about it, and we are still confused!  

I think the core of the issue is that we are dealing with God here.  We are trying to explain, in human terms, the nature of the Divine.  I believe that if we could comprehend every single detail about God, He would not be much of a God.

I believe He is inexpressible.  I believe He is incomprehensible.  I believe He is unexplainable.  I believe there are no words in our vocabulary to define Him completely.  I believe our brains are not yet awake enough to describe Him and fully understand Him.

Therefore, the child of God who still dwells on this side of eternity is left lacking the ability to communicate the extent of the impact of the love of God in our lives...for which we are limited to using inadequate words to express Him...

He is the all Consuming Fire (Hebrews 12: 29; Exodus 24: 17; Deuteronomy 4: 24; Isaiah 33: 14).  Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12: 28).

However, often we failed in our attempts to worship Him acceptably with reverence and awe...and we end up calling His love "reckless" due to a lack of appropriate words... 

I would not use or recommend that anyone uses the word "reckless" the way we understand it, as an adjective associated with God and His love.  But I understand the dilemma of trying to describe He who is totally Indescribable.

The song in question, by Cory Asbury is about God's relentless pursuit of His children, regardless of the undeserving nature of our existence.  When you think about the word within the context of the song, I have a better understanding for the author's choice.  If I look at if with my lowly, clouded, human eyes, I see it: I would be reckless in my pursuit of my sons if the time came for that...no matter what...and my love for them is but a faint reflection of the love God has for us.

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, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

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

(Cory Asbury)