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Without Caution

What if a father neglected his responsibilities and sat on his porch every night waiting for his estranged son to come home? What if one Sunday morning the people of a church arrived to find out the pastor suddenly cancelled services and instead he hit the streets looking for those who needed to feel love again? What if a teacher left their class to chase down a student who ran away? 

Would you consider these actions reckless? The Mirriam-Webster dictionary offers this as a definition for reckless, "marked by lack of proper caution : careless of consequences.". Each of the scenarios above has an aspect of recklessness associated with it. There are consequences to neglecting responsibilities around the house. It seems careless to cancel church without advanced notice. It seems careless to leave behind believers for those who do not believe. What church is doing that on Sunday morning? There are consequences for a teacher who abandons their class. Each of these scenarios has an aspect of recklessness associated with it. 

Each of these is based on lessons Jesus shared. The shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine. The prodigal son who returns home to his father who was looking out for him. The ministry of Jesus that left the temple and took to the streets. Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31‭-‬32). 

God is purpose-filled. God is all-powerful. God is all-knowing. God is not reckless by His ways of perfection. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8). God is complete.

But the way He calls us to love may seem careless at times. The way He asks us to love conflicts with the ways of the world. We are not God and as much as we strive to live like Jesus, we are still broken people in a fallen world. Could it just be that what seems reckless to our puny, flawed human mind is perfect to God?

Our job is to follow God and rely on Him. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5‭-‬6 NIV). Maybe when we do this we will love in such a way that the world sees us as reckless. 

Be blessed and be a blessing,
Matt
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