Bring forth quickly the best robe and put it on him.

Luke 15:22

God is so wealthy that his chief delight is to give. His treasure stores are so full that it is a pain to him when we refuse him an opportunity of lavishing those treasures upon us. When the prodigal returned home the father had no word of rebuke for the waste nor of inquiry regarding the substance. He only rejoiced over the opportunity his son’s return afforded him for spending more. It was the father’s joy that he could find in him an applicant for the robe, the ring, the shoes, and the feast; it was his sorrow that in the elder son he found no such applicant. It is a grief to the heart of God when we try to provide things for him. He is so very, very rich. It gives him true joy when we just let him give and give and give again to us. He wants to be the Giver eternally, and he wants to be the Doer eternally. If only we saw how rich and how great he is!

Watchman Nee

Cory Ashbury has written a song entitled The Reckless Love that includes these words:

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me

You have been so, so good to me

Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me

You have been so so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the 99

And I couldn’t earn it

I don’t deserve it, still You give yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me

You have been so, so good to me

When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me

You have been so, so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the 99

And I couldn’t earn it

I don’t deserve it, still You give yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God

There’s no shadow You won’t light up

Mountain You won’t climb up

Coming after me

There’s no wall You won’t kick down

Lie You won’t tear down

Coming after me

This song speaks to the issue of the love God has for us and the delight in which He takes in us with His desire to bless us. James tells us two things concerning God. First he says that “every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father above in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” Second he says that “we have not because we ask not.” I’m not suggesting that we are to focus solely material blessings but since we live in this world we require some of its substance and after all God owns it all. We hear much today about redistribution of wealth as though in order to bless one person God has to take from another. But God is no Robin Hood. He has an unlimited supply and an untapped vast resource. As the Creator of all things, He has the capacity if necessary to create from nothing our supply. As we read the story of Abraham we find him and his nephew sharing grazing land. When a quarrel breaks out because there was concern whether there would be sufficient grazing for both herds, Abraham who knew the heart of God, His generosity and His power told Lot he could have first choice. Although by custom and culture, Abraham being the elder could have had first pick. But because of his relationship with God, he knew that wherever he was was the place of blessing for God and his source was God rather than his ability or even the things that already existed. Hebrews records that in the travels of Abraham, he passed through great cities that had no appeal for he was in search of a city “whose builder and maker was God.” Paul will say that no eye has seen, ear heard, nor heart imagined what God has prepared for us.

I’m sure that day the returning prodigal was expecting nothing more than a job as a servant. He knew that he deserved nothing from his father due to his own conduct. Can you imagine what went through his mind that day as the father spoke? I can’t and I can’t fathom the “overwhelming reckless love of God.” But I know it’s true and I know that every promise of God is true. Like the prodigal, we don’t deserve any of the wealth of God nor His favor. But it’s not a matter of what we deserve. The father that day didn’t take into consideration anything except the fact that the returning prodigal was his son. God takes nothing into consideration except the fact that He loves His children unconditionally.

So today find the faith not in who you are or what you’ve done but in who God is and His reckless and lavish love for the world including you and me.

Dr. John Thompson