But First, Coffee…I Mean, Jesus
For Mother’s Day this year, myhusband gave me the best gift I could ask for: a French press. Coffee is mylove language. I use a local coffee roaster’s beans, take it black, and drinkat least two cups a day. I identify with the mug that proclaims, “But first,coffee,” balking at the idea that I could take on anything in the morningbefore my first cup of joe.
While I might joke at my coffee“addiction,” it’s true that I rarely go without at least a cup a day. At home,visiting family, on vacation, wherever I am, I will make sure I get a cup ofdark brown goodness before I start my day. If I don’t get it, I’m plagued byheadaches and fatigue throughout my day.
Yet I have found that when I wake up late or am on vacation or just have a lot to do that day, I’ll quickly forsake my time with the Lord in prayer and Scripture. While coffee is a non-negotiable, prayer and God’s Word isn’t. However, I can still feel the effects of not starting my day with Him. I’m anxious, purposeless, and unloving. When my day is not centered on God and His will, it becomes centered on me and my will.
I can feel the effects of not starting my day with Him; I’m anxious, purposeless, and unloving. When my day is not centered on Him and His will, it becomes centered on me and my will.
I started to realize that whilenothing is wrong with a cup of coffee, when I truly believe that I would rathergo without my prayer time in the morning than my cup of coffee, something iswrong in my heart.
For me, it showed me that I wasnot willing to be weak. The American culture says that weakness is a bad thing.It tells us “You’re enough!” It values self-reliance and self-sufficiency, butnot so in God’s Kingdom. God values and uses our weakness, because His power ismade perfect in our weakness.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
What do you rely on more thanGod? Maybe you’re not a coffee drinker like me, but if stuck for hours in awaiting room, you’d rather have your cellphone than a Bible. Maybe you checkall your emails in the morning and then see if you have a few minutes left overto commune with God. Maybe you feel the itch to check your social media duringchurch service because you might miss something.
While none of those things arebad, they all reveal weak areas in our lives where we would rather makeourselves strong than rely on the strength of God.
When God revealed this idolatry in my heart, I have started trying to take back my morning hours. I pray before I have my coffee (though sometimes it takes longer to pray with my sluggish brain). I try to spend time in the Word before my daughter wakes up and it gets pushed off to afternoon nap time (or not at all). Even if we’re out of town and off schedule, I look for the first opportunity to spend time with Him, knowing that I truly can do nothing without His strength.
Whatever is taking God’s place as your strength in life, put it in its proper place.
Whatever is taking God’s place as your strength in life, put it in its proper place. If Christ is not your “But First,” pray that you would come to Him in your weakness and not in your self-made strength.