Jesus Takes His Coffee Black

I bought Jesus a cup of coffee.

He didn’t look like the others who hurried in for their morning coffee. His dreads were matted against his face. He was dirty and desperately in need of a shave. Layers of dingy clothing clung to his thin frame.

He unnerved me. He stood much closer to me in line than is socially acceptable. I inched forward as he continued talking to himself.

I ordered my medium black coffee. Then it was his turn. He asked the man behind the counter how much a coffee costs. “A dollar sixty-eight.” “I’ll take that,” he said, his mind somewhere else.

“I’ve got his,” I offered.

I turned to him, “It’s on me.”

I paid for the coffee and the man barely noticed. His ingratitude perturbed me, and forced a heart-check as I drove to work. Who was I buying the coffee for anyway?

I bought that coffee for Jesus. The Lord reminded me,

“’Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” –Matthew 25:40, NIV

Jesus invites me to look at all of life’s opportunities through this lens. So as I plop my cup of coffee on my desk, I open our website and read about Compassion’s crucial work to provide clean water.

Then I turn from the website to continue reading the reports that come across my desk in regard to clean water saving lives of our African beneficiaries.

We know that dirty water leads to diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and diarrhea.

During the 2012 calendar year, we funded 45 unique, water-related projects that provided clean, safe water to 71,387 children, babies and pregnant woman, and 121,086 adults in Africa alone.

I imagine the opportunities clean water offers our beneficiaries and their families.

Not only will their health improve, but they now have more time.

Instead of walking up to six or seven miles both ways to get water, the village women may now spend their time and energy in small business opportunities or other household chores.

Instead of consuming expensive firewood to boil water, they can drink the safe water straight out of the filter.

For such a small amount of money, we get to be Jesus to those around us. We get to offer a warm cup of coffee on a cold day. We get to offer a clean cup of water and lifesaving interventions that make a world of difference to our beneficiaries.

No matter if we are giving on His behalf for someone in our own neighborhood or across the world: He chooses us to demonstrate His love to those around us!