I watch a lot of espresso-making videos, and it seems that every week some new task-specific gadget is introduced that makes me wonder how I have managed to make espressos all these years without them. What I purchased was a bottomless portafilter. The portafilter is that thingamajig into which you grind your coffee beans. You gently tamp down your freshly-ground coffee, seat the portafilter into the espresso machine, push a button, and moments later you are rewarded with lovely, thick espresso oozing into your cup. A bottomless portafilter makes that beautiful sight even more beautiful.
My first attempt was not beautiful. Coffee spat and sputtered everywhere within a 2-foot radius. My second attempt was equally catastrophic.
“Maybe I should read the manual,” I thought.
The manual was very brief and somewhat accusatory: “If there is sputtering and spitting, it is your coffee beans telling you that you have a problem with your grind or your tamping.”
My coffee is telling me I have a problem?! That is not what my coffee is supposed to do. Coffee is my faithful friend, a warm, caffeine-laced blanket ready to comfort me in its liquid embrace assuring me that everything will be okay. I don’t want my coffee telling me that I have a problem!
We have that same attitude toward sacred Scripture. We love the Scriptures’ trustworthy words of encouragement and hope, God’s sure promises to those who are his in Christ Jesus. How we are comforted by Jesus’ words, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Many of us turn to the Book of Psalms and there find great comfort in words like, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” We love the comfort Scripture brings.
However, we are not as enamored of Scripture when it, like the purest of mirrors, shows us what we really look like, raggedy sins and all. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Its intent is not to humiliate God’s children, but to reveal harmful sin in us so we might repent and pursue Christ’s righteousness.
“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses,” says Proverbs 27:6. A faithful friend will tell you the truth, even if it wounds you, because he is your friend; he cares about you. An enemy doesn’t care at all and will happily lavish on you empty flattery so that later he can derive even more delight when you fall.
The source of trouble for every person is sin; that is the long and short if it. God alone has the remedy. It is to our benefit to hear the diagnosis, difficult as that may be, then trust the remedy: repenting of our sins and trusting in Christ alone. Amen.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some coffee to clean up.
