Some (including my wife) call me a coffee snob. I just say that I like my coffee.
Hey, if I’m going to buy my own coffee, I’m going to get the good stuff! Bad coffee isn’t worth the bag it’s packaged in.
Regardless whether you get your coffee from a local microbrewery, a national chain, Wal-Mart, or the fields of Africa, you need to know that coffee has an expiration date. The countdown to coffee’s “death” starts when the coffee is roasted. Why, might very, very few of you ask?
When coffee is roasted in its green bean form, the natural oils from inside of the bean make their way to the surface. These oils are the flavor of the coffee (nutty, winey, citrus-y, etc…not flavors often added later, such as hazelnut, French Vanilla, etc.). So if you were to pick up a freshly roasted coffee bean, you’d notice that it is quite glossy. In fact, that oil transfers to your cup of coffee, too…next time you get a cup from a reputable coffee shop, look at the top layer of coffee, and make sure you see a bit of oil there. That’s a mark of a good cup of coffee!
That all to say: even the best coffee has an expiration date. The oils on the surface of the bean evaporate. Or go rancid. (I was going to say that you’ll never notice oil on grocery-store coffee beans because by the time they make it to the shelves, the oil’s gone…but I won’t say that). And the coffee loses its flavor.
And isn’t it the same with our faith? Left in the bag, it loses its flavor. The freshness dries up. The passion we once had for pursuing Christ evaporates, leaving us dry and weary.
The oils can’t be added back to the coffee bean. But they can be added back to your faith. You just need to ask.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Psalm 51:12)
