Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Chasing (feat. Cory Asbury's "Reckless Love")

Have you ever gotten hooked on a song after only hearing part of it? That was the case for me with Cory Asbury's "Reckless Love." I had seen a few covers of the song on YouTube, but for a while, the bridge was the only part I knew:

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

No lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

Cory Asbury - "Reckless Love" (single) - 2017 / Amazon

I kept singing it over and over. The more I sang it, the more peace I felt, but then I wondered, Why is this song called "Reckless Love"? How could something so peaceful be labeled reckless? I looked up the word in Webster's dictionary and found that it means, "marked by lack of proper caution: careless of consequences; irresponsible." My initial reaction was, God is the opposite of reckless...

I listened to it again in full, trying to unpack it. This time, I zeroed in on the chorus:

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

I don't deserve it

Still You give yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, 

reckless love of God

Suddenly, I got it. God Himself is the opposite of reckless, but His love is reckless because He cares. This revelation led to a poem called "Chasing."

Chasing

Sometimes I feel like I don't know what love is because I've never been in it, but the truth of the matter is, I know it full well...I'm just running in the opposite direction. See, all girls want to be chased, but from an early age, we're taught to play hard to get, to be chased, but not caught.

I'm not used to being pursued like this. I am overwhelmed. Who am I that You'd care enough to leave the ninety-nine for me? What did I do to deserve a love that fights for me even when I fight against it, a love that sees my shadows and still dares to light me on fire? You don't have to climb mountains for me anymore. I want to be caught this time.

In Your pursuit of me, every lie has been dismantled, every wall has been torn down. What earthly love can be compared to this? The answer is none. The love that is found in You is exactly who You are: boundless, limitless, eternal. It cannot be earned; it can only be graciously given. It cares so much that It does not care who sees. It exposes and covers, breaking me down to build me up again.


If I must be broken to be reckless for You, I am ready and willing to be wrecked. This time, I'm the one chasing.

If you read that and thought, This sounds like a relationship poem, you're right. It is. When earthly love is reckless, it can be dangerous, but God's reckless love is perfect. He pursues us without regard to consequence because He knows that the result of pursuit is obtaining something. When He obtains us, we obtain the promises He has for us, including the reward of eternal life. He doesn't have to be cautious in His chase because He knows what the outcome will be when we are caught: salvation. That's why He leaves the ninety-nine. His love relentlessly overwhelms us because as our Father, He is responsible for us. It's not because we deserve it or because we did anything special to earn it. It's simply because He's God. There's no shadow He won't light up, no mountain He won't climb up to get who is rightfully His, but He shouldn't have to chase us down. We should be running toward Him.

Check out my a cappella cover of "Reckless Love" on SoundCloud:

1 comment:

  1. That was my favorite blog that you have posted so far in musicmessagemessiah.com, Siobhan. I am still in tears after reading and listening to the way that you explained the meaning of the song and then when you shared your cover of the song and I fully understood the meaning of the song... 👏👏🙏🕇❤

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