Ok - this will be my last post concerning the coffee grounds illustration. I most likely have already stretched this analogy to the breaking point. I will try to be brief.
It is clear from Scripture that Christ's followers are to impact the world around them. We are salt and light. In my own "you are the coffee of the earth" kind of way, I am drawing a similar analogy with coffee. Coffee has limited usefulness if it can't properly influence the hot water it comes into contact with. But, coffee has to be broken and burned before it can be used. It seems to me that as followers of Jesus Christ, we must resist the temptation to hide all of our failings and pretend to be someone we are not. We live in the midst of a broken and burned world filled with broken and burned people and our message is that of redemption. The pain and the junk that we all go through, the mistakes that we have made, the people that we have hurt – they are, in the hands of our loving Heavenly Father, our greatest messages of salvation. That God could love me, be patient with me, bestow His grace on me, bless me – even me! That is the greatest message my life can ever preach.
God has not spared any of us from pain, loss, or the consequences of our own stupid decisions. He has let us make a mess out of things. Hasn't He? A very well known passage (Romans 8:28) says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Perhaps, along with other things, God is using our heartache to season us for greater influence.
As a pastor I have the privilege of hearing a lot of people's stories. There is a shocking consistency in the stories I hear about the journey to become more like Christ. The things which mold us, build us and change our lives the most are not the times of ease, pleasure, or blessing but rather the times of sin, suffering, and struggle. The greatest aspect of our personal story is not our perfection, but our pain. The fact that God can redeem the pain, use the mistakes, and bring beauty out of ashes – that's the glory of the gospel - that’s the message people need to hear. God has given each of us a powerful story to tell, but we must have the courage, the honesty and the vulnerability to tell it.
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2 comments:
That was a perfect analogy. It is so true. I am in one of those times of tribulation right now so what you have said is most fitting!
As I sit here downing my fifth cup of Java (I think? I’m a little too hyped up to remember) before 11 am, I’m stirred by your analogy — I’m pridefully thinking “maybe that’s why I like coffee so much?”
Actually, I’m grateful for the imagery as it’s just one more way that our loving Father shows us — through the things He’s made — how to appropriate the life He allows. Roasting does refine, grinding does prepare and brewing let’s you flow. Ah, time for that sixth cup.
Love your blog.
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