He Wasn't Counting the Cost

Jer 31:3 (NIV) I have loved you with an everlasting love.

Reckless love - Stacie Crimm of Oklahoma made national headlines when she refused chemotherapy so that her unborn baby might live. She died of cancer on Sept. 11, 2011, shortly after giving birth to a tiny 2 lb 1oz. daughter by C-section. That was as long as her cancer-ravaged body could sustain the pregnancy. But her baby continues to thrive. True love doesn't count the cost. True love is reckless!

The Love of Jesus - Jesus came to show us a different kind of love, a love that is extravagent, all-embracing, reckless! It is not surprising that the world fails to understand it. But it is surprising how many of God's children fail to understand it. You can tell that they don't understand it because they are still counting the cost. They count the cost of staying in their relationships, and they count the cost of following Jesus. And when the cost gets too high, they withdraw along their pre-planned escape routes. True love doesn't count the cost. True love is reckless!

When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, she did not count the cost. She simply replied,

“Let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

I saw Jesus in a dream. - Death and annihilation were about to fall upon me. But just in time Jesus rescued me. He pushed me aside and took the fatal blow that was aimed at me. He wasn't thinking about the danger to His own life. He was thinking only of me. He gave His life without any guarantee that I would respond to His sacrifice. As He lay dying from the wounds that should have been mine, He turned to me and said,

Be saved! And walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus laid down His life to save you, He wasn't counting the cost. True love doesn't count the cost. True love is reckless!