Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

“You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 (NIV)
 “You shall not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.”
Exodus 20:4 (NLT)

May I be completely honest with you? I’ve taken pride in myself where this Commandment is concerned. Sure that I would never break it, I haven’t let it worry me one bit, that is, until the prompt this week was coffee and I began to ponder on it.

Every single morning when I get up, no matter where I am, the first thing I do is seek out a cup of coffee. Sitting in the quiet, I take my time and linger with it. The planning of my day goes better because I include my morning coffee in it, and between you and me, one cup is never enough, I always desire more. Even when I’m in a hurry, I don’t let that keep me from having my coffee. I’ll skip other things just to be sure I start my day with a cup. When I’m on the go? There’s no question, I bring coffee along with me. Thinking back, I can’t recall a day in I don’t know how long, that I’ve left coffee out of my routine.

Oh my! Coffee! The Lord is using my morning coffee not to waken me as I do, but rather to
A-waken me to the truth.

Idol: anything regarded with blind devotion. 

Devotion: an earnest attachment. 

I’m afraid you’ll have to agree, this sums up my feelings about coffee pretty accurately. Now you might be saying, there’s nothing wrong with a cup of coffee or two and that’s what I told myself at first, too. Until that is, I began comparing my relationship to coffee with my relationship with God and is it ever eye-opening!

Thinking about the description above, I began replacing the word coffee with God:

“Every single morning when I get up, no matter where I am, the first thing I do is seek God. Sitting in the quiet, I take my time and linger with Him. The planning of my day goes better because I include, God in it. I always desire more of God. I’ll skip other things just to be sure I start my day with God. When I’m on the go? I am sure to bring God along with me”……. The truth? While these statements are spot on about my morning coffee habit, I’m ashamed to say they’re all questionable in regard to my mornings with God. On top of that, I can remember many mornings when I’ve left God completely out of my routine, promising myself I’d get to Him later, but then never did.

Idol: anything regarded with blind devotion. 

Devotion: an earnest attachment. 

Here’s the bold, full strength, dark roasted question: Have I made for myself an idol that I put before my God? 

“This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Ephesians 5:14-17 (NIV)

Once again, the Holy Spirit has used my everyday to help me, and maybe you too, understand what the Lord’s will for our lives is. Has He given you, like me, something to ponder? If not coffee, is there something you you might be regarding with blind devotion and putting before God? It’s my hope that we’ll “wake up and smell the coffee,” making the most of this opportunity to change what’s needed to live more wisely and choose to put God first in our lives, where He’s always belonged.