17 December, 2014

Is It the Cup or the Coffee?

Probably all coffee drinkers have a favorite coffee cup or mug. It's just something that happens within us, that we like or prefer that coffee cup. But you know what? If my coffee cup is dirty, it does not prevent me from drinking coffee. I have a variety of them for a reason. I may prefer my Looney Tunes cup, but I can use cup with my kids pictures on it or my Spider Man cup, or one of two dozen sitting in my cupboard. If I go to someone else's house or if I go to Starbucks or Innkeeper's I don't refuse their coffee because they use different cups. I still like my coffee. People do like different styles and designs of cups for many reasons. For example, I prefer cups that are taller and more narrow. The reason is because the more surface area of the coffee due to a wider cup, the quicker the coffee cools off. I also like a thicker cup, rather than a thin dainty cup. That dainty little cup that some prefer may look pretty, but I don't like them because 1) my fingers will not fit in the tiny handles, and 2) the then walls allow the coffee to cool quicker. But some prefer their coffee in those cups. We are all different.  The reality is that the cup, while necessary, is really not all that is important. It's the coffee that I like to drink. It's the coffee that warms me and satisfies me. The cup is just a vessel that is used to deliver the coffee from the pot that brewed it to me.

So, what am I getting at? Preachers are like coffee cups. They are necessary. The Bible says, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" My point is that God does indeed use the preacher, but just like the cup, the preacher is only a vessel to deliver what God has for us. There are different styles and designs and even methods of delivery, but we must never lose sight that the preacher is nothing more than the vessel... the messenger that God uses. What is important is the message... not the messenger. Some people really have a huge problem in this regard. They will only come to church when a certain preacher is going to be there. They seem to give more credence to the coffee cup than they do the coffee. Maybe it's because they have a pet doctrine, or maybe it's because they like a word of prophecy... but the fact of the matter is that they have put their trust in the coffee cup rather than the coffee. 
Just saying.  

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