Coffee is the best thing that ever happened to mankind. It is more valuable than gold.
- Unknown
This morning one of the email subscriptions I have that sends me devotionals and things to read each day was an excerpt from US Olympic Diver David Boudia's book Greater Than Gold telling his story of finding something more important and satisfying than competition and athletic success in his relationship with Christ. There is a lot of attention on Michael Phelps right now as well since the amazing swimmer and all-time gold medal leader is still winning medals after struggling for years with substance abuse. He credits finally being able to make rehab work and turning his life around to finding Jesus through Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life. Both of these men have Olympic gold medals. Boudia has won a silver already this year, and Phelps added three golds to his tally. I couldn't help but wonder what they and the many other Olympians would think of the above quote when I saw it this morning.
Now, I love coffee. Seriously. I drink at least a pot a day. I hate the idea of not having coffee. I can take soda or leave it. In fact, I rarely drink anything other than coffee and water. Coffee is a gift from God in my opinion. But as much as I love coffee, even I know it's not more valuable than gold. I know there are meme loving coffee junkies out there who might think that I have written a sacrilege right there, but let's get real for a moment. I like those funny admissions of coffee addictions too.
I can't stop drinking the coffee. If I stop drinking the coffee I stop doing the standing and the walking and the-words-putting-into-sentences doing.
Coffee - N. a magical substance that turns "don't talk to me. leave me alone or die" into "good morning."
If it weren't for coffee, I couldn't get coffee in the morning. Coffee gets me going. I need coffee to coffee my coffee. Coffee coffee coffee, in my coffee, coffee. Coffee?? So there! Coffee.
There are so many of them, all acknowledging a love for, an addiction to and being controlled by, at least to an extent, a need for coffee. But no. It's not better than gold, and we all know it. I doubt for one second that anyone reading this who walks into a Starbucks today and finds that their favorite cup now costs $100 would walk out with a drink. If coffee doubled in price overnight, most of us coffee addicts would be kicking tomorrow, unless, of course, our salaries doubled as well. We may joke about Coffee being behind a life worth living, worth dying for, and more precious than gold, but it's simply not.
Most things aren't. The vast majority of the things we say are more precious than gold can be bought, which of course means that not only are they not more precious than gold, you need gold to get them. It's hard to imagine anyone choosing death over refusing to give up coffee. And those things that I can imagine some choosing death rather than giving up....well, those things (alcohol, heroin, meth, etc.) are about bondage rather than the substance actually being worth more than life. And we know that the things that put us in bondage and make us slaves do the opposite of giving us a life worth living.
Love. Love is worth it. Love of a person, family, friends, a nation, brothers-in-arms, etc. will sometimes be enough to inspire someone to lay down their life. You can buy people. You can buy affection and attention, but you can't buy love. Love can make you content in the poor house while lonely millionaires kill themselves. Love is something truly better than gold. If I had to choose between the two I'd most certainly choose love, although I'd honestly rather have the combo platter....love, gold and coffee.
Love's what makes life worth living, but our love is diluted by our flaws and selfishness, which effects how strong it is, how able it is to inspire unselfish sacrifice, and how satisfying and fulfilling it is to us and those we love. The more self is there to cut it, the less effective it is and the less value it has. Some love is just not worth much, because it's cut with so much self that we can't trust it.
But there is available a pure, uncut, love that is more precious than gold and never fails to fulfill its potential and promises. The love that is and comes from God isn't flawed or impure. It is so true that it inspired the King of kings to become a servant and die for people we would hesitate to pull out our phones and dial 911 to help. This love has the power to set us free from the bondage killing us. This love actually gives us a life worth living, and it makes us possible to love others in a way that makes a difference because it overpowers the corruption of self and purifies our love. It's worth more than life, more than money, more than coffee and Olympic gold. It satisfies when nothing else can. And best of all, especially since it can't be purchased with gold or works, it's been freely given to us all.
We simply have to accept it. We only have to see it for how precious it truly it is to freely receive. It costs nothing, and it costs all of our life. It can't be bought, but it is available in trade for us. Surrender. Full, complete, unconditional surrender of that life we're not happy with, that we can't control anyway, that's leaving us frustrated, afraid and empty in exchange for freedom from bondage, being controlled by a love determined to restore and heal and bless us rather than destroy us, like everything else we've already surrendered control to, Wait, there's more. There's also love, joy, peace, and contentment. The thing is, when we're willing to give up selfishness and self-will is when we find the source and presence of all the things self is driven to seek.
Yeah, I love coffee, but coffee isn't the answer. I love my wife more than coffee, but she's not my answer either. Jesus is the answer, because He is the source of love worth living and dying for. He is the greatest gift to mankind.
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