The way of Jesus is the way of the cross. This is the way of self-giving, of generosity, of vulnerability, of embrace, and of joy. We’re being invited by Jesus to follow Him in this strange path. It may be unlike anything we’ve ever walked before. But have those paths ever led you to full, permanent joy?

God’s grace comes to us because of God’s joy. In experiencing grace, we first recognize ourselves as the object and cause of God’s joy. And it’s this that immediately gives rise to incomparable joy in us.

When we know ourselves to be the cause of joy to the Infinite One who then also promises to deliver us into joyful shalom forever, our beings do not have the power to override the bursting fountain of joy that we will discover within us. When we know this joy, His joy, His grace, there is nothing the world can do to stop it.

In the best of times and the worst, in hope and despair, in light and every darkness, we have access to the One who can sustain us. If we want to persevere, Jesus is where we turn. If we want joy, He is where we find it. He’s waiting for you, even today. Won’t you draw near?

Forgiveness. Love. Community. The presence of God. This is the New Covenant, which Jeremiah announced 600 years in advance, and which we’re invited into right now. Who’s in?

Jeremiah is a hero of the faith, at least in part, because the suffering he endured for more than 40 years never caused him to give up. Even when he had a clear out—he kept going, kept loving, kept pursuing God’s shalom for the people around him. So what was his secret? How did he keep going?

Identifying with the poor and needy, seeing them as human, working to relieve their suffering, and refusing to take advantage of our power over them—these are key aspects of knowing God, and they’re key aspects of finding the freedom we’re all longing for.

When we reduce God to a scarecrow—that doesn’t move and doesn’t talk but merely scares us into obedience—we lose the power and joy that only come from knowing Him. It’s in knowing God that we find and experience the power that will eventually make our world right. And it’s in knowing God that our hearts can find their deepest joy.

God has placed us in this here and this now with a purpose—to seek the shalom of our neighbors. Let’s love our streets.

What is God’s basic posture toward us? Anger? Disappointment? Indifference? Though these are what many of us have been taught, when we listen to God’s own words, we realize they’re all wrong. God is full of grace.

If we are going to partner with the Spirit of Jesus to do the work of Jesus, a great place to start is in acknowledging, feeling, and combatting the false narratives that are causing so much misery for us and our neighbors.