The pursuit of love and happiness drives us ALL. Regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, social status, religion- we are ALL in need of love. It’s a core human necessity. There’s a longing in each of us that desires to be loved, desires to be wanted, desires to be desired.

That longing in the deepest part of our souls and in our spirit was intentionally woven into our beings by God the Father. He created us with a missing puzzle piece that only He holds. We can never be made whole, completed, fulfilled; the picture will never be clear without His missing puzzle piece. To be complete, by definition  is having all parts or elements, lacking nothing, being whole; entire, full. There is nothing in this world that can fill the void in us that is the love of God. No amount of success, fame, adoration, accumulation of material things or false idols can make us whole.

But how amazing is it that God, being all powerful, all knowing, all seeing and Good in the purest sense of the word, is actively (present tense- right now) pursuing us! Pursuing YOU! I want this to feel personal to you. I want you to really grasp the notion of the creator of the earth pursuing little ole’ me and little ole’ you; and then when you’ve understood, of course in our limited understanding of God’s greatness, I want you to feel it in your heart and get it deep down in your soul. GOD LOVES YOU! This is Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:17-19

“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Only in the fullness of God can we be made whole. Luckily, He chases after us, after our hearts with steadfast love. Nothing can keep Him from loving you!

Jesus refers to us as sheep, meek, gentle, obedient, not the most clever, and in need of a leader (this is not an example from the Bible). He calls Himself the Good Shepherd in John 10:11,

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

He loved us to the point of death. Not just any death, but brutal torture and cruxifixction. Knowing what waited on the other side of this sacrificial act, He gave it all for us; He gave it all for you.

Reckless love is “marked by lack of proper caution: careless of consequences,” that’s one of the definitions the Merriam Webster Dictionary gives. The noun definition of reckless love is “unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another.” That is God’s love for you. He saw the consequence, or the outcome of giving Himself up for you and said that you were totally worth it! He needed to reconcile you back to Him, because He yearned for your love!

Whether you’ve just recently accepted Jesus, have been saved for years or are simply curious about Him, know that God’s love is more pure and more real than anything you’ve ever experienced. It is constant and beautiful, and He longs for you to know Him; to know it. You are the ONE lost sheep He leaves the ninety-nine to chase after. His perfect, reckless love doesn’t give up, it doesn’t depend on our twisted or broken idea of love and efforts. He decided He loved you before you even got a chance to mess up. He formed you and knew you in your mothers womb. 

He leaves the ninety-nine to save the ONE!

“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”  So He spoke this parable to them, saying: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them,‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”

-Luke 15:1-7