Hosea, Easter, and Reckless Love

Oh the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. How it chases me down, fights till I'm found, leaves the 99. 

I don't know if you are aware that this familiar radio song faced some opposition when it first came out. Some didn't like the reference to God's love being reckless. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, all sufficient. How could anything He does be considered "reckless"? 

I always equated reckless with lavish so I could sing this song with reckless abandon because God's love is so amazingly lavished upon me. But as I approach this Easter season, I've been wrestling with my own sin, past and present. I've been humbled again and again and it’s no coincidence I've been teaching through Hosea. The lyrics of this song hit me differently this month and maybe it’s because Hosea is a good example of how to picture the reckless love of God.

Hosea was preaching to a people consumed with getting everything they could out of their religious practices, and not in a good way. They were eager for anything that might serve their purposes and meet their needs. Their self focus led them to abandon their covenant with Yahweh as they chased down other gods and every wicked practice. Like an unfaithful spouse, they went outside their covenant relationship searching for satisfaction and fulfillment.

God used Hosea to not only demonstrate a message of betrayal, heart-ache, judgment, and consequence, but also the hope of reconciliation that happens with repentance. And therein lies the reckless nature of our God's faithful love. 

Betrayed time and time again. 

Rejected, mocked, dishonored, profaned. 

Every imaginable pain and humiliation coming from those who boast in their special relationship with Yahweh while prostituting themselves out to every god that comes along. They are entirely untrustworthy. And yet, God offers them a second chance, a new marriage, a fresh start.

“I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.” 

Hosea 2:19-20 NIV

Mercy like that IS reckless! And knowing they can't accomplish righteous living in themselves, God offers Himself, as the sacrificial groom that meets all the requirements of the marriage agreement, purifying His bride and presenting her holy and blameless! This is what I celebrate this week. That God through Christ covered all my sin, past, present, and future.

“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

Col. 1:22 NLT 

I’ve betrayed him time and time again. 

Rejected, mocked, dishonored, profaned. 

Every imaginable pain and humiliation I have caused. Entirely untrustworthy.

I couldn't earn it. I don't deserve it. Still you give yourself away. Oh the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.

My sin has only ever proven how unworthy I am of God's love. My best efforts to be good and do what is right, fall disastrously short in my own strength. And the pain and heart-ache isn't minor. It would be reckless for anyone I've sinned against so heinously to extend forgiveness and grace, all but guaranteed I will fall again. I am not at all different from Hosea's bride. 

And in the humble state of this revelation, God's love overwhelms me. Christ's sacrifice undoes me. The Spirit's comfort envelopes me. The horrific cross on Friday and the empty grave on Sunday. I don't know if it’s the most theologically sound adjective to describe the love I feel, but as I sit holding both my sin and God's grace, I can't help but feel like it’s reckless. And oh so amazingly lavished upon me!