Reckless. It’s not a word we often associate with God. Recklessness seems careless, impulsive, even foolish. Yet when it comes to describing the love of God, human language strains to find the right word. And so, we borrow reckless—not because God is careless, but because His love defies logic, shatters expectations, and looks foolish to the watching world.
Jesus told a parable to explain this kind of love: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4).
The math doesn’t add up. Ninety-nine safe sheep, and one foolish wanderer. From a practical standpoint, it seems irresponsible to leave the majority behind for the sake of one. But this is not practical love—it is relentless love. It is the love of a Shepherd who refuses to accept loss, who pursues the lost sheep with singular focus, and who rejoices more over its return than over the ninety-nine that never strayed.
This is the reckless love of God. It is love that leaves safety to step into danger. It is love that spends itself extravagantly without stopping to count the cost. It is love that looks like madness to those who don’t understand it.
Consider Jesus at a Pharisee’s dinner table in Luke 7:36-50. A woman, known only by her sin, enters the house. Uninvited. Unwanted. She kneels before Jesus, weeping, and pours out a jar of expensive perfume to anoint His feet. With every tear she sheds, she wipes His feet with her hair. The Pharisees recoil in judgment, thinking, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is.”
But Jesus knows. He knows her past, her shame, and her reputation. And He does not recoil. Instead, He receives her offering as an act of love and forgives her sin. Reckless love sees what others reject. It embraces the outcast, the sinner, and the unworthy without hesitation.
And at the cross, the reckless love of God finds its fullest expression. Paul writes, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). While we were still sinners. Not when we were cleaned up, deserving, or ready. God’s love moved toward us when we were at our worst. He didn’t wait for us to come home; He pursued us to the farthest places.
What kind of love is this? Who would sacrifice everything for those who rejected Him? Who would endure the agony of the cross for the sake of the unfaithful? Only a love that is unrelenting. Only a love that holds nothing back.
The reckless love of God doesn’t calculate risk; it lavishes grace. It doesn’t ask whether you’re worthy; it declares that you are loved. It doesn’t stop halfway; it goes all the way to a rugged cross and an empty tomb.
And this love is for you. No matter how far you have wandered or how unworthy you feel, the Shepherd pursues you. The Father runs to meet you. The Savior stretches out His scarred hands that shout: “I love you.”