If you asked me to name one song that describes the theme of my life, I’d say “Reckless Love” — Stefan Gretzinger’s version.
There’s something about that particular version that ministers to me differently. It comes as close as a song can to expressing the overwhelming love of Christ that I have experienced.
Love.
The most powerful, most used, and perhaps one of the most misunderstood words by mankind.
I was showered with so much love by my parents growing up, yet somehow, I interpreted that love as bondage. As a teenager, I often fought with my parents because I misunderstood their discipline, their instructions, their boundaries, and even their concern for me. What they called protection, I sometimes perceived as control. What was truly love, I sometimes interpreted as bondage.
And then, on the other hand, I misunderstood and mistook the “love” professed to me outside my home by fleeting, mortal men and women—people who, perhaps, had no real understanding of what love was.
Now that I am older, oh, I see it clearly.
What Love is.
The love I had received so lavishly at home was the very love I later found myself craving in the hands of fleeting young men with fickle thresholds for love and, sometimes, very little understanding of what it truly meant.
Perhaps you, too, have a blurred vision of what love looks like.
Perhaps you have confused attention for love, possession for love, attraction for love, or temporary affection for something meant to last forever.
But Scripture gives us a picture of what love really looks like:
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
1 Corinthians 13:4–8 NKJV
In fact, one of the greatest turning points in my life came through heartbreak. A young man I genuinely thought I would spend forever with shattered my heart.
And what an amazing gentleman he was. Truly.
But as I look back now, I have come to understand something: no one can love perfectly unless they know God, because God Himself is love. That heartbreak brought me closer to my God.
Because that heartbreak choke!
There was absolutely no way on this earth I could have survived that season without the help of God. Every night, I soaked my pillow with hot tears. In the shower—hot tears.
Nights came when I cried myself to sleep. Mornings came when I did not want to wake up.
And then I encountered the love of Jesus.
Oh! His love changed my life.
In ways I couldn’t—and still can’t—fully express.
There are some things you can explain. There are some things you can write about. And then there are some things you simply have to experience for yourself.
His love is better experienced firsthand.
And perhaps that is why, even today, “Reckless Love” resonates so deeply with me.
Because when I look back at my life, I can see His love woven through places where I didn’t recognize it.
I see it in the love of my parents.
I see it in the lessons I learned through disappointment.
I see it even in heartbreak.
I see it in the moments when I thought I was alone, but He was quietly holding me together.
I see it in the fact that I am still here.
Still standing.
Still loving.
Still believing.
Still experiencing a love that I once spent years searching for in all the wrong places.
And so, in the middle of packing this evening, the Holy Spirit interrupted my thoughts and nudged me to write this down.
Perhaps He wants to reach you with His love on this beautiful day.
From the beginning of time, He loved you.
He loved you a long time.
And in time, He still loves you.
He loves you so much that He gave His life in exchange for yours, so that you could have eternal life.
He bore your pain; He bore your shame; He bore your grief. He carried what you could not carry, so that you could experience peace—not just for a moment, but peace on earth and, ultimately, eternity with Him.
So come to Him.
You who have labored so hard, you who have tried so hard, you who have carried so much without the help of Jesus.
Come to Him.
His hands are stretched out to you in this very moment.
Take His hand.
Talk to Him.
Thank Him.
Tell Him how you feel. Tell Him where it hurts. Tell Him what you are afraid of. Tell Him what you desire. Speak to Him from the depths of your heart.
You don’t need perfect words.
You don’t need to have everything figured out.
You simply need to come.
He loves you.
And I hope you decide to begin—or perhaps begin again—your walk with Him.
Maybe, one day, you too will find a song that perfectly describes your relationship with Jesus.
Maybe you’ll find a Bible verse that resonates so deeply with your heart that you can’t stop thinking about it.
And maybe, when you look back over your life, you will realize something I have come to realize:
It was love all along.