Coffee?

Would you like some coffee?

Common enough question with two basic answers: yes or no.  I personally would choose the latter, but for the purpose of this illustration working we are going to have to pretend that the response was yes and thus the ever necessary follow-up question is required:

How do you take it?

Apparently there is more than one form which you can pour "devil juice" into your body, but anyways...coffee comes in many forms.  You can get the frew-frew stuff that is basically caramel, sugar, and syrup with coffee vapors wafted over it and thus called coffee.  Or you can get it so that you might as well be eating moist coffee grounds.  Along there are those that drink everything in between the two extremes; those who drink coffee know exactly what I am referring to.

Now, between the various coffee forms lies a sort of rivalry.  The "frew-frew"ers feel sophisticated and elite due to the prettiness and expense of their coffees.  The "ground"ers look down upon their fellow "coffee" drinkers...wimps.  They don't drink coffee...the drink flavored water.

While we may offer coffee to friends and strangers, we unwittingly offer another source of "life-giving nectar".  The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate morning, noon, and night pick me up (kind of like how some of you drink your coffee...just get an IV).  Through our lives, actions, and words we offer the Gospel to those that we interact with.  Unconsciously, intentionally, or whatever else, it happens every second of every day.  But along with coffee comes the ever important question:

How do you give it?

Unlike coffee, you are giving the Gospel and not receiving, but the consistency is still important.

John 3:16, Romans 3:23, and the rest of scripture gives us a very strong, bold, flavored existence.  Sins are sins right.  Murder is is murder, rape is rape, and unbelievers go to hell.  Simple, right?  Well, hating your brother is murder (1 John 3:15), lust is adultery (Matthew 5:28), homosexuality is an abomination (Leviticus 20:13)...still simple?

What kind of "coffee" do you offer?  Are you offering a strong, bold, rich example?  Or some watered down wannabe?  Are people actually energized and refreshed by the fullness of what they consume or does just more comfort and pride come?  The strong stuff is often to bitter of most.  It is offensive and hard to swallow.  You do a person a disservice by giving them anything less than what the source provides.  They will only continue to wallow in their own misery and dissatisfaction.

For those who have not figured it out yet, I am not talking about coffee any more.

You offer life to the world (the comparison to coffee works here for some).  Why cheapen it?  Why water it down for political correctness or friends?

What kind of coffee to you serve?  Better yet...

                                                                              how do YOU take it?