Brewing Up a Good Story

By Rhonda Rhea

I’m so excited that I found biblical grounds that my husband should be the one to make the coffee every morning.  Hebrews.  You know, “He brews”?  And it’s a whole book.  I figure that’s pretty solid biblical grounds, right?  Wait. Did I really twice mention biblical “grounds” in the middle of a bunch of coffee talk?  Okay, so no doubt I need to stay more alert in exactly how I read God’s word.  The extra-shot-of-espresso, high-caff kind of alert.  It’s important not to get lazy.

Isn’t it weird how we can sometimes make God’s Word say things it’s not really saying?  Stringing things together that aren’t related, adding meaning where it doesn’t belong.  Or sometimes we simply neglect God’s Word altogether.  And that’s altogether the wrong thing to do.  The thing is, there are essential life-building truths we just can’t ignore if we want to live a vital, fruit-filled, wide-awake kind of life in Christ.  The Bible is not just a collection of good stories a group of people brewed up.  It’s God’s message to us.  And there is plenty of meaning right there in his word—right there in black and white—without trying to squeeze out something else.  Meaning to last a lifetime.  And meaning to change a lifetime.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that “the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  Now there’s some high-powered life-fuel.  And 2 Timothy 3:14-17 lists some of the amazing things scripture does is in our lives.  “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Coffee may partially equip us for a morning.  But God’s word thoroughly equips us for every good work.  His word equips us for life!

I think I’ll be percolating on that truth for a long time.

Meanwhile, I finally figured out that I can program the coffee maker to make the coffee all by itself.  Auto-brew.  There’s no book in the Bible about it or anything like that, but is it okay if I tell you that I thought it was a pretty marvelous “revelation”?