And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
Nehemiah 8:9-12

This was immensely confusing to me.

Let’s break this one down. Say we’re at The Austin Stone. Pastor Ezra comes on stage and he starts reading the Bible. Everyone is goin’ crazy, hands up, faces down, we’ve got the Levite family explaining stuff up in front. Everyone is crying. The whole thing looks like if you took a bunch of pre-teen girls and killed Edward in front of them (which, all things considered, would not be a bad thing).

So, everyone is weeping. Then, out of nowhere, the Levite family calms everyone down, “Today is a holy day! Don’t be sad!” and suddenly, we’ve got a party started, Asian style, with tons of food, all because they understood what the Bible was teaching.

God, you wrote the Bible crazy. What on Earth is going on?

And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Luke 24:31-32

(Shameless plug: Emmaus is also the name of my band. Goodness, I miss those guys. For his glory!)

Now it comes together. It’s starting to make some sense.

In the revelation of the Bible, we begin to know who our God is. Standing on top of the Scriptures, we come above the clouds that limit our view and the wondrous mysteries of God become even more expansive.

If our God could love us as to die for us, what more is there to him? When will I see him?

I encourage you, dear reader, to get in the Bible. Jesus has already shown us who God is. Through him, we may know God.

I may be filthy at first, unfit to even untie the sandals of my King, but Jesus does not become unclean in loving me. Rather, his love Windexes my mired mirror, that the glory of God would be reflected in my life.

As Dr. Piper says it:

The mystery of what you don’t know gets its God-glorifying power from what you do know.

May you be enthralled with the mysteries of God because of what he has already revealed to us in the Scripture.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
John 12:26

In order to bear fruit, I’ve got to follow my Jesus. I follow him to Calvary, I follow him to Gethsemane, I follow him to death.

But why am I still so disobedient? Why don’t I always follow? How do I kill all this cruft?

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galations 5:24

I don’t need to. It’s already dead. Relief.

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23

So, if that’s who I am, dead to sin and alive in Christ, then I’ll live like it. Why would I pretend to be something that I’m not?

Father, help me to kill everything that’s dead inside of me every single day. Daily drive the father of lies away from me and give me the strength to overcome my temptation, having lined my heart with the words you’ve whispered to me in quiet places.

I rely on you and with you there’s hope.

He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
Luke 8:25

The more I learn from Luke, the more I see how alike I am to the disciples in their shortcomings. Glaring imperfections laced with mistake after mistake, even though they walked day to day with Jesus. Even then, God uses them to great effect for the Kingdom, the washouts, the B-team. What hope do I have? Great hope. Amazing hope. Infinite hope.

In the storms of my life, I try to navigate the waters and find my own way to opposite shores and I never succeed. So like the disciples. So prone to failure.

But they were experienced sailors, fishermen who knew the sea, armed with years of familiarity and intuition. Even then, they stumbled close to death. Even then, they needed Jesus to bail them out. What hope do I have? Great hope. Amazing hope. Infinite hope.

How great is our God that when we go through storm after storm, he is powerful enough to save us every single time? Who is Jesus that the winds and water obey him? He is the one that created them. They know his voice from creation. He said, “Be!” and they were. When he says, “Still!” they hear.

Father, I ask that in the storm, with every gush of wind and every wave that throws me off course, I would go to you first. May you be the strength I rely on. Still the storm on your timing and quiet the winds when you choose.

May your will be done.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Luke 12:32-34

Jesus always thinks heavenward.

I’m so convicted by this passage because I know how much my acts of worship to God reflect my worship of God.

I don’t give away things. I don’t sell what I have because I don’t have enough to give. I don’t care for the poor. I don’t provide for my family with what I do have, and I know I have brothers and sisters in need.

My heart, I’ve realized, looks like my wallet, so riddled with holes.

Even though everything that I have is on loan from God, I know my heart has strayed from him because my heart doesn’t treasure him.

I don’t think heavenward.

Father, erase the claims I’ve made in my life. With what you’ve given me, bless others that you would be glorified as the King that you are, the Father that sees his children’s needs and provides.

May I live in need of you every day.

Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
Luke 8:19-21

Since I can remember, I held that my heart wouldn’t feel whole if I didn’t have people in my life to spend it with. For far too long my heart has misplaced itself, opting to let loneliness steal away my desires and views of sufficiency, and thus, my identity.

First and foremost, though I did nothing, God adopted me as his own. I’m his son. Infinitely flawed, arrogant, greedy and selfish: God still loved me.

Then, I found out that I was part of a family. My brothers and sisters, through the obedience and power of my big brother, Jesus, who rose from the dead!, those who love God. They are the ones that I will join in praise of God when my body fails — my eternal family.

Dad, please don’t ever let us forget who we are.

Remind me everyday of who I am, so that I will know what you want me to do.

I can’t wait to dance with my sisters from China and Ethiopia and Peru, and I can’t wait to sing with my brothers from Canada and Korea and Spain.

Dad, because of what you’ve done, let me go and tell people all over the world who they are.

And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:48-50

These words are so powerful when we realize that they were said to us as truly as they were said to the Sinful Woman two-thousand years ago.

In order to love with great love a reminder is always needed to know that we are forgiven with great forgiveness even though our sins are many.

“Sinner, your new name is Christian; now, go into peace.”