Reckless Love / How He Loves Us

Anthem Lights splice two of contemporary worship's most recognizable songs into one medley, and the pairing works because both songs argue close to the same point from different angles. Cory Asbury's "leaves the 99" line pulls directly from the parable in Luke 15:4 — a shepherd with a hundred sheep who "leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and goes after the one that is lost, until he finds it."

John Mark McMillan's half of the medley, "love's like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy," reaches for the same territory Romans 5:8 covers more plainly: "God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Both songs resist the idea that love has to be earned first — the shepherd goes looking before the sheep does anything to deserve it, and the storm image describes something overwhelming the singer rather than something worked toward.