Fully Empty

I stood on the wobbly step stool while my friend Hope steadied it from below.  Reaching up to the glass in front of me, I spritzed Windex across the pane and cleaned away the dirt, grime, and streaks from the window.  "Thank you so much for doing that girls," the lovely lady from our church gratefully said handing us candy and homemade cookies to take on our way.  "I have been wanting to clean that for such a long time and just couldn't reach it."  Ms. B was a lovely woman to encounter this weekend during our cleanup morning, and I am thankful to her for reminding me that whether it be window wiping or trying to accomplish more monumental things in life, we can't do it from our own self-sufficiency.  Oh yes we try like the little engine that could, chugging along and huffing, "I think I can.  I think I can!"  But when we get to the top of the hill and pull into the station, the cheering crowd may not even be there, or if they are, it turns out that it isn't as fulfilling as you'd hoped.  Until we see life through the lens of Jesus' finished work on the cross and make Him our treasure, every striving and addition in our lives will lead to frustrated emptiness.

This reminds me of a passage I read recently in the book of Haggai.  To give a bit of context, the Jews had returned to Jerusalem with a mission to rebuild the temple after many years of exile in Babylon.  Although work had previously begun, resistance from adversaries halted the progress (see Ezra 4).  Thus, the prophet Haggai spoke a message from God to His people calling them to return their eyes and lives to Him. This would be signified by less focus on the menial strivings of their daily lives and instead on rebuilding His temple where His glory and presence would reside among them.  The prophet states, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?  Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.  You have sown much, and harvested little.  You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill.  You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm.  And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. (Haggai 1:4-6) 

Do you ever feel this way after all you've done is work, strive, fall down, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and push onward?  You've filled and filled and filled.......and it's meaninglessly empty.  Like, these men and women over 2,500 years ago, I too can be guilty of this same error.  Oh, I don't try to push God out of the way.  No, I just keep inching up into the driver's seat beside Him and putting my hands on the wheel too.  Of course He's driving, but I just have to get my hands in there to make minor adjustments where I see fit.  It's as if I think that by thinking and trying hard enough, I can do it of my own accord.  Oh Cassie, Cassie, Cassie.  When will I ever learn?  Again and again, I have to ask God to tear down the idol of self and to destroy it, decimate it, smash it to smithereens!  I like what one of my favorite authors, Tim Keller, says about idols of the heart in his book Counterfeit Gods.  "Idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. By what? By God himself, of course. But by God we do not mean a general belief in his existence. Most people have that, yet their souls are riddled with idols. What we need is a living encounter with God."

If we, ourselves and efforts, are not enough and we need an encounter with a living God, where shall we seek?  In the Old Testament time such as that of Haggai, the people built a temple so that through priests and mediators they could approach God.  Church buildings are wonderful places, and I love mine very much, but now that Jesus has come it's just that, a building.  We don't have to build a structure for Him to occupy, for we can look at the cross and shout out victoriously, "Christ has conquered death and paid the penalty for my broken sinfulness!"  By embracing that we are fully empty in this world and calling in faith on the saving name of Jesus, we can be filled.  They (and we) were eating yet hungry and drinking yet thirsty?  Be filled with Jesus, the Bread of Life and the Living Water!  We don't need a building, a mediator, or works for we can approach the throne of grace with confidence with one mediator between God and mankind, the man Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:16, 1 Timothy 2:5).  Set your eyes upon His perfect, finished work on behalf of sinners such as me and make Him your treasure.  Let what was fully empty becoming overflowing with the greatest abundance and joy in all the earth!

Follow the Lead in Faith

I left the church from my brother and sister-in-law's wedding rehearsal on Friday evening following another couple who I had decided to carpool with to the rehearsal dinner downtown.  As we made our way taking left and right turns here and there, I was careful to keep a close watch on their car in front of me.  Although I knew the area, I was completely unaware how to make my way to their apartment complex where I would leave my car behind.  When they turned, I turned.  When they stopped, I stopped.  They were my guide, and I was not going to lose sight of them.  Nearing our destination, we went through a roundabout, and I was delayed by another vehicle.  As I came around the curve, I looked around anxiously trying to determine which exit they had taken.  "Where are they?" I asked myself knowing that a wrong turn could lead me in a mistaken direction.  As I continued around, I thankfully spotted the tail lights of their car and accelerated to continue following.  At the end of the book of Exodus, the Israelites too kept their eyes on their Guide careful to follow His leading as they moved forward.  Having followed God's instructions to build a tabernacle, His presence came to dwell among them.  Exodus 40:34, 36-37 explains that then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle...Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out.  But if the cloud was not taken up, they did not set out till the day that it was taken up.  When He moved, they moved.  When He stayed, they stayed.  And although God's presence no longer takes the form of a cloud over the tabernacle, His Holy Spirit is present guiding my way today.  As I continually strive to keep my eyes on Christ, God calls me to live a life of faith when called to move and equally when directed to wait on Him.

We must be filled with strong faith when God calls us to movement and action.  I think of the words of Joshua from the Lord before God's people crossed into the Promised Land.  Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)  If He has called us and He is with us, what have we to fear?  So too do we see this same confidence not in man's power but in God's faithfulness to deliver in the well known recounting of David and Goliath.  Before going forward with only a sling and some mere stones, David confidently speaks His confidence in One who will conquer.  And David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." (1 Samuel 17:37a)  Indeed, the Bible is filled with story after story of ordinary, broken people who God calls to move on His behalf and follow His leading.  Hebrews Chapter 11, the "faith hall of fame", reminds us of many such who lived by faith, men and women like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, Samson, and Samuel.  In our lives, when "the cloud lifts" and the Holy Spirit leads believers to take action, we too must have great faith as we step forward and obey.  It may mean something as simple as sharing the glorious truth of Jesus with someone we encounter or much bigger steps like changing careers, moving, beginning or ending relationships, or even suffering on behalf of Jesus.  Like the Israelites, in these defining moments may we set out knowing that God's very presence is close and intimate with us every second of the way.  

While there are times in which looking to our Guide we are called to action, so too must we have great faith when the Lord commands us to pause and wait.  The waiting seems safe enough, but it equally requires great faith in God because we must submit to and recognize His sovereignty and control rather than trying to make a plan and put it into place.  Psalm 28:3 is great encouragement in such seasons.  Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.  Just the wording of this verse proves how very difficult such patience can be.  Why else would we be commanded to take courage as we wait on His leading?  Yet as God takes me through seasons of pausing, seasons of quiet, and seasons of waiting, I must take courage not about my surroundings but concerning the work that He is doing within me.  He's refining, He's sanctifying, He's breaking down every idol and concern sinfully taking His rightful place in my heart and life.  Even more, I believe that He is protecting and paving a way so that when the cloud again lifts and He draws me to move, I will be better equipped for effectiveness all the while stepping into His plan for my future rather than my own.  I may certainly know what I desire or want, but I trust that He knows even better.  Tim Keller says it well in stating, "God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows."  I acknowledge that I don't come even close to knowing a miniscule piece of the knowledge of God, and in faith I can trust that He is doing more than I can imagine or hope for.  Romans 8:32 brings me great hope and peace.  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?  Salvation through Jesus is the ultimate gift and focus of my life, one that can never be approached by any other blessing.  Even still, I can look forward to His goodness knowing that a path marked by His leading will always be right where I want to be.

Going back to Exodus 40, these verses touch my heart so deeply.  I want to live in such a way that my eyes are always on Jesus, setting out when He moves me and obediently waiting when He bids me pause.  May we do it all in faith and obedience just as He exemplified for us in His death, burial, and resurrection, for the joy set before us and to bring always more glory to His great name!  Stop and go, keep your eyes on Him, and follow the lead in faith.


*If you'd like to hear more on Exodus 40 which inspired this post, I recommend this excellent sermon from Pastor Mark at College Park Church: God Among His People

For You Are Greatly Loved

I've heard it said that it's not what you know, it's who you know that makes the difference, and at times this can prove to be true.  Perhaps you've gotten a moment with just the right individual to pitch an idea, to express interest in an open job position, or to meet someone you've always wanted to just because you happened to have the right connection.  While you might have otherwise been easily overlooked or ignored, another vouching on your behalf changes the game.

In the book of Daniel, God's people are in exile because of their disobedience and failure to follow the one true God.  During his time in Babylon, the prophet Daniel finds favor in the eyes of the kings and is given positions of influence.  (This is the same Daniel you may recall was protected by God when thrown into the lion's den for obeying the Lord above the king's edict.)   In Daniel 9, he prays for himself and his people, acknowledging their disobedience and failure while imploring the Lord to bring glory to His name by having mercy upon Israel and delivering them from exile in a land far from the Promised Land they had once enjoyed in God's blessing.  In response to his prayer, God sends Daniel a messenger and vision.  The messenger, Gabriel, explains that "at the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved...." (Daniel 9: 23). 
As I read these verses, I was stopped by this response, that Daniel's prayer was heard and answered because he was greatly loved.  How beautiful this must have been to Daniel, that God would incline His ear, hear prayers, and respond because of His great love for His follower.  How often my prayers are heard and God moves in my life, yet I fail to recognize His acts of mercy that speak the same message to me: Cassie, see this work I am doing in your life.  I hear you, answer you, and bless you, for you are greatly loved.  It's not on my own credentials or achievements, however, that I am heard or so dearly loved, but completely on the basis of another...

As my pastor, Mark Vroegop, so succinctly explained in a recent message, "we have a God who likes us, but He is not like us."  Our God is perfectly holy, righteous, and glorious.  We are not.  Because of our sinfulness, we cannot be in the presence of our God.  Fear not, for in such a great love that He has for us, He has made a way.  Through His life, death, and resurrection, Christ became the bridge to span the chasm between God's holiness and our sin.  I'm a visual person, so let me give you a graphic that someone once drew in my childhood to illustrate this concept that really stuck with me.  If in faith you have given your life to Christ and made Him your Lord and Savior repenting of sin and relying on Him alone for your righteousness, you are united to Him.  That means that when God looks at me, he doesn't see my imperfections and failings, but instead He sees the all-sufficient and perfect work of His Son.  Doesn't that make you want to shout for joy?  It certainly does me!  Because of this, we can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16), and I know that Jesus is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (Romans 8:34).  Jesus makes a way for me to approach my Creator, and He continues to work on my behalf at God's side. 

In this case, the saying is absolutely true: It's not what I know (or have done), but who I know that makes all the difference!  I celebrate that we can be drawn into relationship and fullness of joy with God because of my Savior Jesus Christ, for you and I are greatly loved.     

In Him We Live

I'm a very deep sleeper, so sometimes I have dreams that are incredibly vivid, realistic, and convincing.  I've woken up upset and sure that something sad and terrible was true when it was simply the workings of my sleeping mind, and I have been disappointed when my eyes fluttered open because I had already spent time in my dream getting ready for the day when in reality my feet hadn't even yet hit the floor.  My mind and imagination are so elaborate that I can be convinced that it is reality if I am not careful to distinguish between the two and ground myself in what is true.

Just as my mind can be fooled in sleep to believe that fictional plots and interactions are real life, do many realize that they live in the same sort of haze even when they are awake with eyes wide open?

Now most certainly there are billions of people walking around this earth with hearts pumping and air moving in and out of their lungs.  They are alive, but I must wonder whether they are really living or have fooled themselves into thinking they are.  It seems there is a hint of the same concern as they are continually searching for meaning and greater purpose.  It's as if they have this sense of emptiness and purposelessness for which a solution must be found.  Carpe diem.  YOLO.  Dance as if no one's watching.  Live each day as if it's your last.  And so they seize the day, they act with the knowledge that you only live once, they dance frantically, and they live like there is no tomorrow.  And yet it's still empty.  They know they are alive and yet somehow they aren't fully living.  

I recently came upon a beautiful truth in Acts 17:28 - In him we live and move and have our being...  Those first four words are powerful when I stop to think about them.     In Him we live.  Scripture tells me that before Christ changed my heart and became Lord of my life, I wasn't truly living.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved -- (Ephesians 2:4-5).  A slave to sin (John 8:34), I was no more living true, abundant life than if I were asleep, dreaming, and calling it true.  Here is where it gets exciting though!  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Recognizing that I am broken and nothing better than dead in my sin, I call on Jesus Christ as my Savior because He brings life out of death and makes new what is broken.  Doing what no man could do, He came down from His rightful place in heaven to live a sinless life, to offer Himself up as a blameless sacrifice taking upon Himself the wrath and punishment that my own sins deserved, and to conquer death and rise again.....all because He loves you and me and wants us to truly live in union with Him just as from the beginning we were intended to be.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  (John 10:10)  I love it!  He gives us life, and He gives it abundantly!  We can stop searching for empty solutions and living by meaningless cliches.  Wake up and open your eyes to the Way, the Truth, and the Life!  Fill your lungs, your heart, and every ounce of your being with joy and fullness in Jesus.  In HIM we LIVE!      

Purposeful Pain

The human body is incredible.  Now and then as I'm curling my hair or cooking, my hand will brush the edge of scorching hot metal.  Ouch!  Without a second's thought or conscious decision making on my part, my brain signals my body to recoil quickly to protect itself.  Burns hurt, but if my body hadn't experienced a moment's pain, it wouldn't have saved itself from greater harm and damage.

We see that there is a reason for experiencing pain in our physical bodies, and I also find so with inner pain and struggle we experience in life.  Although our physical reaction is to flee from it, I believe that there is striking evidence for the power of feeling pain, accepting it, even embracing it for a time so that God's work might be more complete in us and so that it may be purposeful pain.

First, pain is purposeful because it reminds us of our dependence on Christ.  It's so easy to believe with our head that we need God every moment, and yet when things are going according to our plans, hopes, and desires, I'm not so sure we truly display and treasure this in our hearts.  The beautiful thing about hurting is that it breaks us in such a way as to remind us that we are not the king of our castle or lord of our life.  He is the King of King and Lord of Lords.  It is in pain that we are brought to a breaking point of surrender and humility in which we know that we depend on Him for every ounce of being.  We come to that moment just as the psalmist did when he cried out, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73: 26).  We are in need of Christ every second, and pain graciously brings us to this understanding in such a way that ease never could.

Secondly, pain shines a brilliant light on God's goodness to us.  When the hurting is raw, it strips away the frivolous and unimportant things in life that often hinder our thankfulness and view of the abundance we've been provided.  I shouldn't concern myself with whether or not I've been given earthly blessings or not (although He truly has provided those for me time and again).  No, pain reveals anew to me that God would make a way for a wretched and broken sinner such as me to be redeemed and restored to Himself through His Son.  It's utterly astounding and begins to turn the pain into pure rejoicing and praise.  I love how two Psalms that I read recently have perfectly expressed this thankfulness and recognition.  The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance (Psalm 16: 5-6).  Amidst any hurt, His children can be assured and grateful that our lot has fallen in pleasant places because we will inherit the kingdom of God since we are united with His Son.  Stated another way, my heart prays along with David as he cries out, "But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me." (Psalm 13:5-6)  It's becoming clearer to me why James might enlist us to count trials and suffering as joy.  Pain can have beautiful purposes in our lives!

Finally, as John Piper so eloquently suggests in Desiring God, pain shows to others around us the power of Christ's suffering on the cross and His love in our lives even today.  As I read Piper's words, I was stopped dead in my tracks by the powerful truth of these sentences.  Soak this thought in with me.  "Here is the astounding upshot: God intends for the afflictions of Christ to be presented to the world through the afflictions of His people.  God really means for the body of Christ, the church, to experience some of the suffering He experienced so that when we proclaim the Cross as the way to life, people will see the marks of the Cross in us and feel the love of the Cross from us.  Our calling is to make the afflictions of Christ real for people by the afflictions we experience in bringing them the message of salvation" (Piper, 2011, p. 269-270).  Did you really get that, because I'm understanding it more fully every time I read it.  If we want to proclaim the truth of the Gospel to unbelievers and fellow believers, then our experiencing pain is on purpose!  To save me, Jesus suffered the pain and the full wrath that I deserved, and so my own pain in seasons of life can boldly reflect that Christ is enough no matter what the circumstances we face.  His love and saving work is perfect and all that I need.  Every other thing pales in comparison when He takes His rightful place as the Treasure in my life.

If it takes being dropped to my knees over and over again to be reminded that when I am weak He is strong, I will take it (2 Corinthians 12:10).  Again and again, I will ask that He grant me the ability and the heart view to count it all joy (James 1:2-4).  Pain has a purpose in our lives for it reminds us of our need, His provision, and the all-sufficiency of His death, burial, and resurrection on our behalf.  May Christ transform my heart continually making me ever more in His likeness and impact my circle of influence in the process.  Painful, yes, but oh so precious and purposeful.

Learn This: You Simply Can't Earn This

I sat in a small group of educators as we discussed school experiences.  Our conversation lingered on teaching students through dialogue and open-ended questions rather than through a transmission model.  "Do you think any of your students will have trouble with the fact that you aren't looking for one right answer?  Can you think of kids like that?" the professor probed.  I candidly replied, "I am that student.  I just want to know what the assignment is, what's expected, and then I'll do it well."  Thus, the story of my life, my motivations, and the inner workings of my brain.  The unknown and blurry edges aren't comfortable, yet give me the specifications and expectations and I will work ravenously to achieve and earn the grade, a good evaluation, the approval.  "Just believe you can achieve!" the old saying goes.  As we read Scripture, we are clearly reminded that life simply doesn't work that way.

Don't get me wrong, many people believe that they just have to do the right things.  Follow the golden rule, don't lie too much, and drop some change in the Salvation Army bucket on the holidays.  Check, check, and check.  You just have to be a good person, right?  I suppose that this works-based model of salvation would be a decent system if we could do it, but we can't.  Not even close.  Give me a short amount of time after my feet hit the floor in the morning and I've already failed.  I am once again reminded that I am a sinful human, I am imperfect, and that I cannot make a way for myself nor earn my righteousness.  If God were in the business of issuing report cards, I'd deserve a big old red F stamped across the page.

Praise God that even before Adam and Eve first sinned, He already was making provisions for His sons and daughters.  He planned to send Jesus into the world to take on flesh and live the perfect, sinless life that you and I cannot.  Christ submitted Himself to death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and to bear the judgment and wrath that we rightfully deserve.  Three days later, He rose victoriously having conquered sin and death!  For those who place their faith in Jesus Christ and submit their lives and hopeless strivings to Him, we are saved by His blood.  United with Him, we are accepted because we get to claim His righteousness as our own.  Yet we didn't earn it, not even for a millisecond.  It's like failing miserably, but your report card boasts an A+.


This reminds me of the words spoken to the Israelites after God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and had fulfilled His promise to give them their inheritance of the Promised Land.  I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them.  You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. (Joshua 24:13)  In Christ, I too am living in a promise and saving grace that I did not labor for nor did I construct.  Like His people, I get to taste the sweetness of His love and reap the glory of His presence because He is such a good, loving, and extravagant Savior.

How can I possibly respond to such an incredible gift?  What can I give, for surely He needs nothing that I have to offer?  Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. (Joshua 24:14a)  Praise Him that I don't have to begin each day trying to maintain my salvation.  No, His work was sufficient and complete.  However, out of the overflow of my thankfulness and adoration for His saving grace, I am called to revere Him.  My heart overflows in such a way that I continually call Him Lord of my life and that I strive to bring glory to His name alone.  May I grow in my service to Him and become an increasingly faithful servant of the one true God.

Learn this...you simply can't earn this.  We are the creation of One who is infinitely more holy and glorious than any human being's striving.  But treasure this truth: He has built a bridge to cross the chasm between our sin and His perfection, and His name is Jesus Christ.

I surely don't deserve this.  I've done nothing to earn Him, but He is mine.      

I Am Her

"We are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope – at the very same time." ~Timothy Keller

 I heard this quote a year or so ago, and the words struck a deep chord within me.  The more I marvel in the depth of the Gospel, I find this idea to be completely true.  On my own, I am utterly desperate, lost, and awful.  I have failed.  I am a sinner.  Yet in that same breath, I find that Jesus' love for me is deeper, richer, and beautiful in the most opposite extreme.  I acknowledge my need for a Savior, and I find it in Jesus Christ, the only way, truth, and life.  The more I see my need for Jesus, the more I love Him and the more overflowing my heart is in thankfulness that He has saved me, made me new, and calls me a daughter of the King.

This reminds me of an incredible story in Luke 7.  And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at a table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.  Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." ... Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman?  I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.  You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.  Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven -- for she loved much.  But he who is forgiven little, loves little."  And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." ... And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." (Luke 7:37-39, 44-50)

I believe that this woman was seeing the truth of the Gospel when she encountered Jesus.  She knew she was unworthy, and she knew that He was the answer.  She couldn't contain her thankfulness nor did she want to.  She offered everything she could give in worship of Him.  Perhaps you see yourself in these verses.  I know I do...

I Am Her

I am her.

I have done wrong, sinned, chosen self over glorifying God.

I am her.

I have heard that Jesus is near and I'm drawn.  I cannot stay away.

I am her.

What do I, a sinner, have to offer?  I bring the most fragile and precious thing I carry, my heart.

I am her.

In His presence I drop to my knees, unworthy before my Savior.  The tears cannot be contained, and I let them wash over His feet.

I am her.

I kiss His feet and dry them with my hair.  I am humbled before my Creator.

I am her.

I take the perfume and pour every drop upon Him.  It's everything I have to offer.  I surrender my life; my all in all, I give it to you, Jesus.

I am her.

Others may scoff and remind me that I am unworthy.  "Jesus, do you know who she is?"

I am her.

Kneeling at His feet, Jesus takes in a desperate daughter and calls me His. 

I am her.

I love much, for my many sins have been forgiven.  Purchased by the blood of Christ, I am covered in His righteousness.  I am worthy because He alone is worthy.

I am her.

I have faith, I am rescued, I am loved, and I am remade.

Yes, I am her.  And I am forever HIS.