This post of Julie’s caught my attention initially because the location is a coffee shop! But I choose this one to share with you because it challenges us all to holiness and obedience. Drink up!
I found the cutest new coffee shop in our town. The kids and I took a few friends and went to have coffee/tea and chat. Can I just say, it is SO MUCH FUN to have my kids at the age where they can go to a coffee shop with me and drink hot drinks and chat pleasantly????? So much fun. It doesn’t seem long ago that I would’ve spread out coloring books, dinosaurs, and goldfish, hoping to prolong my limited minutes. Every season of parenting has its joys. I’m in the coffee shop season.
So this cute coffee shop … great architecture, great coffee, interesting art, comfy chairs, big windows, good music … and a dirty cup. Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I was given a dirty cup. Now, remember … I’ve lived in a developing country, so I honestly just turned is upside down and gave it a tap, then poured my coffee in real fast. But I remember that the cup was dirty. I recognize a dirty cup, because I have them in my own kitchen. ….. No one likes a dirty cup. Jesus doesn’t.
The pharisees were constantly campaigning for Jesus to give them the “Righteous Club of the Year” award throughout the Book of Luke. He never did. In fact, He wanted them to know that He saw right through their outward image and inside their dirty cups. I mean, hearts. But He used a cup to make the point.
Luke 11:39-40
Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?
Jesus wants us to be repentant, unencumbered by love for this world, and obedient. It was so hard for the religious leaders to repent, because they wouldn’t take an honest look at themselves and see that they were dirty inside. We have to recognize our dirty condition, so that we can cut loose the idols in our lives, and Be Obedient.
Jesus longs for our obedience. It is evidence of our love for Him. What does Jesus want for me and for you in this year of 2011? He wants us to Be Obedient.
Well, it’s the weekend. What are your plans? Let’s all take some time to check out the inside of our cups and wash up.
If you need a place to get alone for some time to think and pray and read and listen … I know a great little coffee shop.
And I love the reminder, Kathy. You … like me … can think of this one often when we empty our cups of coffee. ;)