Maybe it’s just my guilty conscience, but I feel like whenever I hear a sermon about giving or read an article about saving money, the first thing they always say is stop buying Starbucks over-priced coffee!!! So after a little reflection and a lot of resistance, I calculated how much I could save a month and decided to give it a try. My decision was definitely enabled by the fact that I work with three coffee fiends. Morning, noon and night- there’s always a full pot in the break room and an open invitation to share. So I grabbed my creamer, a handful of Splenda’s from my final Starbucks run, my favorite snowman mug from Mike, and began “sacrificing”. The first week went pretty smoothly, zero coffee purchased with zero caffeine withdrawals acquired and I was feeling pretty good on Friday afternoon as I slowly counted down my final seventy three minutes of work one by one. Until I noticed my mug on my desk. There wasn’t really any way to wash it properly at the office, but I was able to rinse it out in the sink and I figured a little coffee residue never killed anyone. It’s lack of lethal influence may have been correct, but I forgot about the staining power of coffee. As I stared at the yellowed inside of my most favorite coffee mug- after only five days!- I realized that water alone wasn’t enough to keep the white enamel clean; I needed the power of dish soap.
Fortunately my mug wasn’t ruined, and so far I’ve faced no health risks from my experience. But I can’t lie that I didn’t feel a twinge of sadness when I first noticed the stain. I love looking at my mug on my desk every day because it reminds me of Mike- how thoughtful he is and how much he loves me. I didn’t want anything to spoil my gift.
God’s grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn’t come from anything you do. It is God’s gift. Ephesians 2:8
God’s gift to me- to you, to everyone!- is salvation. I know when I put my faith in Christ, and realized that I now had a clean slate, that everything piled up on my record was wiped away, it was the best gift ever. But if I couldn’t get the slate clean in the first place, then there’s no hope that on my own, I can keep it clean. Sometimes, I get to the end of the week and realize that depsite my disciplined efforts to follow my Bible reading plan and pray for half an hour daily, I’ve begun to accumulate some residue. Maybe nothing that seems critical on the surface- I haven’t killed anyone lately. But I was pretty angry when my roommate turned on the dryer while I was sleeping. Little things begin to discolor and taint the beautiful gift I’ve been given, and I get frustrated. But there is a Helper.
You have been trusted with a wonderful treasure. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you. 2 Timothy 1:14
Water alone can’t remove coffee stains. Human effort can’t remove inner stains. We need the power of the Holy Spirit, daily, to help us stay in the black.
-lf