Sacred Songs: I was moved by 'Reckless Love.' Then I learned it was controversial

A popular worship anthem led me to prayer — and into a theological debate.

For the second time in a month, our church’s worship band played “Reckless Love” during Sunday’s service.

It’s a great song, and the word “reckless” really stuck out to me.

Here’s the chorus (and click here for the full lyrics):

O the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.

O 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

O the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.

When I first heard “Reckless Love” last month, I choked up and couldn’t bring myself to sing. My mind went to a friend — someone who’s been struggling and who walked away from faith years ago.

As I often do for non-believers, I prayed that Jesus would do what he promises: to be the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 to go after the one lost sheep.

The word “reckless” felt right — not because God is careless or impulsive, but because he isn’t concerned with how reckless his love might seem to us. He’s not bound by our sense of proportion or practicality.

After all, who among us would really leave 99 good things behind to chase after the one that’s lost? If we’re honest, it sounds foolish. But that’s the kind of love Jesus offers — extravagant, relentless, even reckless.

Well, little did I know two things about that song until I started researching it:

1. It is a super-popular song, winning Song of the Year at the 2018 GMA Dove Awards and nominated for a Grammy in 2019.

2. There’s controversy over the use of the word “reckless.”

“Reckless Love,” which was released in October 2017, was co-written and performed by Cory Asbury. It spent 18 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs, was the top Christian song of 2018, and ranked fourth for the entire decade.

I’m sure I’d heard it before, but the lyrics didn’t really hit me until this past month.

When the song became popular, critics argued that calling God’s love “reckless” misrepresents his nature — suggesting carelessness, irresponsibility, chaos.

Randal Rauser, a Canadian evangelical theologian, argued against the word “reckless” in an article in The Christian Post.

“God's love is not reckless: it cannot be. Nor, in my view, is it helpful to think of God's love as hyperbolically reckless because doing so frames God's love as a youthful infatuation rather than the abiding, steady, well-planned, and eminently non-reckless love through which we were chosen before the creation of the world and for which we have been called soberly to count the cost.”

To my surprise, one person who came to Asbury’s defense was John Piper, a 79-year-old Baptist pastor who takes very seriously every word in the Bible and every word we sing.

Piper, who also writes poetry, addressed the song’s use of the word “reckless” in an “Ask Pastor John” podcast in 2018, saying that the hyperbolic use of the word may be appropriate in this case:

“But maybe the author used the word reckless in the sense that God’s love may look (to an outsider) foolish, ill-advised, brash, and breakneck, but in fact the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. The recklessness of God is more assured of success than the most carefully executed plans of men.”

We should let Asbury have the last word about his intent.

He said his inspiration for the song was the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15). Here is what he told an audience at a concert:

"When I used the phrase 'the reckless love of God,' when we say it, we're not saying that God himself is reckless. He's not crazy. We are, however, saying that the way he loves in many regards is quite so.

“What I mean is this: He's utterly unconcerned with the consequences of his actions with regard to his own safety, comfort and well-being.... His love doesn't consider himself first. It isn't selfish or self-serving. He doesn't wonder what he'll gain or lose by putting himself on the line.

“His love isn’t cautious. It’s a love that sent his own son to die a gruesome death on a cross.”

So maybe “reckless” isn’t a theological category, but it’s a way to describe something so radical, so counterintuitive, so undeserved that we can’t quite find the right word for it.

All I know is that I’m grateful for a Savior who chases us and fights for us. Whether we call it reckless or not, it’s love that refuses to give up.