Twice this week I have received free coffee at two different restaurants. On Tuesday a markerter for a new apartment complex was buying coffee for everyone who came into Starbucks. Today, I indulged in Chick-Fil-A’s free coffee for February deal. I like coffee and I like to work and study in coffee shops and restaurants. Oddly enough, I am often less distracted there than in my office or at my house.
So on Tuesday and Friday I ventured into restaurants with my iPad and an armload of books to indulge in good coffee and intense study. Both times I got free coffee and distractions. Yes, my free coffee cost me my focus because both times the unexpected happened, I ran into someone I knew. The importance of relationship trumped John Stott, John Calvin, and F.F. Bruce. I was forced to interact with living people instead of dead people.
That is the cost of living in relationship with others as believers in Christ. We can hide from the world in our homes and offices, we can bury our noses in our books and Bibles, or we can make ourselves available. Of course there are tiems in my life when interaction has to be put on hold so that I can focus on studying, but there are other times where I (and you) need to be willing to put down what we are doing and open our eyes to what God may want us to do–or even what God may want to do for us.
The Christian life is about relationships. Relationship first with Christ, but also with others. Are you working to cultivate relationships with others that affect the Kingdom of God?
A free cup of coffee cost me some study time this week, but it was worth it.
