Casandra Martin

I took Home Ec in seventh grade. I learned how to make an apple braid (wish I still had that recipe), omelets (I have this one, but still don’t like eggs), and made a backpack that no one ever really wants to be seen with in public. One of the lessons I remember was on measurements – dry measures, liquid measures, and the importance of measuring correctly in order for everything to turn out in the end.

Brown sugar turns out to be the most fascinating thing to measure. It is boring to measure out flour, granulated sugar, or salt. You just scoop those ingredients up, level them off, and pour them in. Not brown sugar. Brown sugar you have to pack. You fill the measuring cup. but then make room for more. Pressing it down with your spoon, brown sugar packs the maximum amount of sweetness into whatever measuring cup you use.

Did you know that there is a brown sugar promise for you in the Bible? Luke 6:36 says, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Think about this amazing promise for a minute. Every time that we open up space for God to work in our lives, He promises to pack it full of Himself. Spiritual formation – the process of becoming like Jesus – is a process of emptying and filling. Every time we die to self, deny our own desires, put pride, selfishness, guilt, and greed to death, we create an empty space for God to fill. The promise in Luke 6:36 tells us how God will honor the empty places we bring to Him. He won’t use the flour way of measuring things. He packs Himself into our hearts like brown sugar – pressed down, packed together, overflowing with sweetness.

The last sentence of the brown sugar promise explodes with hope. Whatever part of ourselves we bring to God to fill, God promises to make sure that space is crammed with Himself. If we bring Him a teaspoon, He will make that teaspoon space overflow with His goodness. A cup of brokenness will be blessed with as much of His presence as can be pressed down and shaken together in that space. A whole, entire heart – the brown sugar promise means that Jesus will be packed into every imaginable crevice.

My Jesus Resolution today is to open my heart to God’s brown sugar promise. I am going to give Him the full measure of who I am. I don’t want to dribble myself out teaspoon by teaspoon. I want to be full of Him. I want Him pressed down, packed in, and overflowing into every part of me. This means I am going to have to open up space in my life today for God. I need to set down my agenda, give Him my time, let go of my wants, surrender control, and give it all to Him. But every piece of myself that I bring to Him, He promises to fill with Himself. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over with something sweeter than brown sugar. Overflowing with Jesus.