The Irresponsible Love of Jesus

Oh man, when it came to me as a young adult I was very irresponsible! Paying bills was of no importance, my love life was the reason they created nunneries and my choice in friends was…well…creative. I was boundary-less, irrational and led completely by emotion.  As I matured (more like beaten, broken and completely emptied) one of the first things I learnt, besides God was a good thing, was boundaries, especially when it came to my heart.  I learnt to choose friends based on character. I learnt to say no and not get used. I learnt to respect myself and know what I wanted and actually get to choose who I loved. I became very responsible.

In the last few years, I have had to choose to love others with a high guard because of the toxicity some people can bring into my life. People who are perhaps too needy without any reciprocation, people who seem jealous so try to tear me down, people who do not respect my no’s or boundaries and people whose influence may not be healthy for me. As a woman who has battled serious mental health issues, part of my healing and freedom remains because of the people I have let go of and set firm boundaries with. I have learnt to be emotionally and mentally responsible for my well-being.

This got me thinking about Jesus. I was driving to church this weekend listening to the new song Reckless Love and it hit me. We are taught to be careful who we love and give our hearts to, who we befriend and who we hang out with –  yet God has the loosest boundaries of anyone I know… He is truly reckless and irresponsible when it comes to his heart!

How irresponsible was it for Him to love me again and again after every time I  cried out to Him but turned around the next day just to fall on my face. How irresponsible of Him to pursue me over and over again as I cursed him, rejected him, grieved him, abused his graces, lied to him and hurt Him. How irresponsible of Jesus to let a sinful woman hang all over him in front of church leaders!

Luke 7:38 – When a sinful woman from that town learned that Jesus was dining there, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His with feet her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume. 39When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him—for she is a sinner!”…

How boundariless he was to defend an adulterer and be seen sitting and drinking with sinners.

John 8:1 (ESV) The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

How foolish of Jesus to share his heart and deepest dreams with a friend who would backstab and betray him.

Matthew 26 At that time Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He told them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

How completely irresponsible for Jesus to love us and give up His life for us.

Isaiah 53 (TLB)  We despised him and rejected him—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we didn’t care. Yet it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, for his own sins! But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed—and we were healed!

I still believe it’s important for us to protect our hearts, though sometimes we take boundaries a little far and grow out of love. But, if we were to love others as irresponsibly as Jesus does we need it to be His love through us that leads the way!

Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen. – 1 Corinthians 13:7 (Phillips New Testament) 

Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen. - 1 Corinthians 13:7 (Phillips New Testament) Click To Tweet

“Oh the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God.”

Sarah B

 

Sometimes we can grow cold emotionally from years of battling anxiety. Let me help you. 

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