Our three or four year old coffee maker suddenly stopped working
the week before Christmas. It worked
fine for my morning Java that day but following a power outage in the
mid-morning, it failed to go on for an afternoon drink that my son was
attempting to brew for the two of us. I
remembered that there was another one without a carafe hidden in back of one of
the kitchen cabinets, so I dug it out and we jimmy rigged it to work with the
carafe (that didn’t quite fit – so that
you physically had to hold it while the coffee poured into it) from the broken
machine.
Late in the afternoon when my son had left for home, I began
to think about it and suggested to my wife that we go right then and there and
pick up another brewer at the local CVS.
I really had been wanting to get one of the newer single cup dispensers,
but reasoned that because of the high cost of those machines and for
expediency, that we could put up with a lesser expensive multi-cup brewing
machine again. But the more I thought
about it, I decided that I could make some adjustments on the back cabinet machine and
use it until after the Holidays. Who
knows, I thought… maybe I would get a few Amazon gift cards that I could put toward
the coffee maker I really wanted!
Well, low and behold, previous to this event, all of our
kids from around the country pooled their money and our son in California
bought us a wonderful new Keurig single cup coffee brewer! After opening their gift at my in-laws on
Christmas Eve, I burst out laughing as I told the story of what I almost did and
everyone soon joined in with my joy!
Now as the hot water filters through the coffee K-Cup®, the wonderfully rich aroma of the ground
coffee beans fills the atmosphere in the kitchen. I have to tell you that it’s sweet smell
makes me think that I just walked into a Starbuck’s coffee house! And… even
better yet… the aroma is matched by the flavor that I savor as I take that
first sip standing alone in that kitchen each morning!
Ephesians 5:1-2 tells us to “Imitate God, since you are the children he loves. Live in love as Christ also loved us. He gave his life for us as an offering and
sacrifice, a soothing aroma to God.”
(God’s Word ©) As I peeked at that verse again first thing
today, I thought of how pleasurable the aroma of that coffee is to me each
morning and how similar it should be to the aroma of Christ in us when we enter
into other’s lives! The old coffee maker’s
brew did not have that same effect on me!
It’s kind of like the new man recreated in us verses the old us before
salvation!
We are instructed in these verses to live our lives as
Christ did by giving His life for us. The
only difference is that He gave His physical life once and
for all of us and it is not something that need to do again. But in the new life that His death has
provided for us, we should be willing to physically give of ourselves with our
time, our finances, and our touch to others in need around us.
Ephesians 5:8 reminds us that “Once you lived in the dark, but now the Lord has filled you with (His)
light.” Then it continues by
declaring that this “Light exposes the
true character of everything because light makes everything easy to see.”
(All scriptures from God’s Word ©)
These verses combined with others such
as John 1:4 make it clear that it is His light shining through us that will not
only be a rich aroma of His love to others, but also cause them to gently see
whatever the light exposes to them – and
- put a desire and an expectancy and possibility the of change into their
lives!
Remember… it’s His
light that they should see and not ours!
It is His wisdom, His love and His Holy Spirit power that they need in
their lives, not our personal “2 cents”
of information we think will be helpful to them! The online Urban Dictionary defines the idiom
of “my 2 cents” as “An inconsequential opinion or comment given
to another person on a particular topic.
Not because it was warranted, but because the giver felt compelled to
say it, regardless of its relevance.” That’s not the kind of help that the Word
says we as followers of Christ are to give to others! It’s His life and His light that people
need! And it is only through His life
and light that others can experience the power to receive the healing, the help
and/or the comfort they need, along with the ability to make any personal
changes in habit, thinking or actions that may be required.
Believe me when I tell you that I have had people share
their “2 cents” with me in times of
desperate need and it felt like the time I tripped and grabbed a hot stovepipe
as a little kid while camping with my family at Richardson Grove State park in
the Redwoods of Northern California! The
aroma of burnt flesh and the shock of pain that radiated from my burnt fingers
was nothing like the delicious sweet aroma and taste of that rich coffee in the
morning that reminded me today of the fragrance of God’s light and love emanating
through us to others.
Which would you rather experience? Which would you rather have emanating from
you? Have a great rest of the week. Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking
yourself… “What am I expecting today?”
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