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Reckless Worship

The term “reckless” generally doesn’t connote positive feelings…unless coupled with a term like “love”.  Negative terms when juxtaposed to a positive word can radically alter our perception of the word.  It comes as no surprise that our worship team was discussing the song “Reckless Love”.  Most everyone seemed to be enthusiastic about the song and even applauded the clever use of ascribing “reckless” to God’s love.

I was the only one who initially commented that I don’t see God’s love as reckless, in fact the opposite.  God’s love is planned, predestined, generous and even calculating.  Grudem’s “Systematic Theology” defines His love as “God eternally gives of himself to others”.  I guess you could say that a “reckless love” could fit within that definition.  But I struggle with the term apart from “love”.  I looked up the term “reckless” in Scripture and in every case it is used in a negative sense…without exception.  Here’s some references:

  • “Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows.”  Judges 9:4
  • “One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless.” Prov. 14:16
  • “Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness.” Jer 23:32
  • The prodigal son – “he took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.” Luke 15:13
  • “In the last days…people will be lovers of self…treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit…” 2 Tim 3:1-5


Of all the adjectives that the author could have used, wouldn’t it have been far better to use one that venerates praise to God, not confusion.  The fact that we have to take the time to justify the use of “reckless love” in a song should raise the warning flags.

This is not a hill to die on, this is not a call to boycott the song.  We’ll continue to sing it at our church and I will quietly and respectfully sing an alternative word like “awesome love”.  It bothers me that we so quickly accept poor theology on the basis of a catchy tune.  We justify it by finding ways to cleverly redefine what the term means.  We quickly abandon reason to ascribe to God’s love “rash, careless, heedless, without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action”.  “Isn’t that just like God” someone says…"No, it’s not”.

My encouragement to you is to slow down, don’t build your beliefs on what tickles your ears, but what we read in the inspired Word.  Let God’s love be the lens to man’s reckless writings.
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