I’m bringing two of my favorite things together in this blog post. This is for you coffee lovers out there.
The Christian life is a lot like an espresso. Let’s talk portafilters, beans, tampers, coffee grinds, and espresso!
To make an espresso you take the coffee beans, grind them, put them in a portafilter, press them with a tamper, and then hook the portafilter into the espresso machine. The machine pumps water through the grinds to make the espresso. If you were to grind the grinds and just loosely put them in the portafilter, like in the photo above, the water would run straight through quickly, not extracting any of the actual coffee. Your espresso would be watered down, undrinkable, and probably dumped down a drain. Put the proper pressure on the grounds with a tamper, however, and you have a perfect cup. The water moves through the grinds and extracts the perfect amount of coffee. The cup will be delicious and leave you energized–desiring more. Apply too much pressure though, to the grounds, and the water can’t move through. The grounds are burnt. The taste will be bitter. It will leave a bitter taste in your mouth that even sugar can’t hide.
Now imagine with me that the coffee beans are you before salvation. These beans can be used, but have more purpose for coffee when they are ground. The ground beans are you after salvation. Moldable and usable for God’s purpose. He will create a new purpose in you. The water is the Holy Spirit that flows through the grounds. The tamper is life circumstances, trials, and experiences. Then, finally, the espresso is your fruits (the end result).
If the grounds are shakeable, movable, and easily strained the cup of espresso you will receive is watered down and useless. People won’t even want it. You can call yourself a Christian, but if you never mention Christ, fit in with the culture, and look no different from the world, you are the lukewarm muddy water that comes out of the portfafilter. You are useless to the cause of Christ because you aren’t showing them Christ. They won’t see the Gospel in you. They won’t know what the Gospel is.
You can also call yourself a Christian and be so judgmental, giving no grace, and self-righteous that you leave a bitter taste. You are the grounds that are so hardened they don’t let the water run through them. The Holy Spirit can’t work in you because you want to do everything yourself. You think works will save you. The way you live your life, in a righteous way, will save you. You look down on others for their sins instead of offering them grace. Sharing the gospel of grace and forgiveness is foreign to you. You don’t judge with “righteous judgement” according to the Bible, but “self- righteous” judgement according to you.
Then you can be the aromatic and energizing cup. Allowing the Holy Spirit to move you and mold you. The perfect pressure applied to a grind allows the water to move through it and absorb enough coffee to produce an excellent espresso. Your prayer is “thy will be done.” You are the perfect balance of righteous judgement, grace, love, and discernment. The Holy Spirit will work through you and the result will be “delicious!” People will want more of what you have to offer them! This is the cup we all strive for, but this cup will take grinding and there will be pressure too. There will be molding and then there will be a desire to please God, to live a life pleasing to Him, and a sweet aroma that others will crave. This cup will require emptying oneself and giving it all to God!
The Gospel Message: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4 ; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
girloutofthebox 