Daily Devotion
March 1, 2024
Reckless Love
Luke 15: !-7 NKJV
“15 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man [a]receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine [b]just persons who need no repentance.”
There is a song by Cory Asbury called Reckless Love, that is born out of a deep spiritual need for fulfillment through a close encounter of the God kind. You see, to the Jewish people of Jesus day, the concept of this kind of love that would search out the lost rather than demanding they work their way back home, was completely unknown.
In John 1:17 a new concept was presented: “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Yes, He searches out the lost, and once found, He will lovingly carry that lost one back where he belongs. For God has a right place for each one of us. Not the place we wonder off to. Not the place where we are lost, torn, wounded and bleeding, but the right place where we are in the shelter of His love.
We may call this love “reckless” because we can’t achieve it on our own, we don’t deserve it, we can’t earn it. Yet, He puts our dirty, wounded, bruised and bleeding soul on His loving and strong shoulders, and carries us back where we belong. This isn’t actually reckless love. This is the overwhelming God kind of love. The kind of love that should bring us to our knees in awe and thanksgiving, then to our feet with arms outstretched in praise,
NEVER, NEVER, forget how much God loves you, for the law was from a distance, but grace and truth are inside you where Jesus lives.
