A Word from Matthew 12

Somewhere along the way, you’ve probably heard a little story that was passed along to me under the title, “The Coffee Cup Analogy.” You’re holding a cup of coffee, when somebody comes along and bumps into you, and your coffee goes everywhere. And if you were asked, “Why did you spill your coffee?” you’d probably say, “Because somebody bumped into me!” And while that might be true, it would be just as accurate to say, “You spilled your coffee, because there was coffee in your cup.” And the lesson, of course, is that when life bumps into us—which it will, from time to time—whatever’s inside of us is what will come out.

Now, if you’re familiar with the gospels, you might be aware that Jesus made a similar point years before we were carrying coffee cups around. In today’s word from Matthew 12, he says, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit…A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Mt. 12:33, 35-37)

So, when life happens and maybe even bumps into you today—which it probably will—I wonder what words…what fruit…what “coffee” is going to come out.

May God give us grace to have something good within us, so that even the bumps in life will show that we belong to Him. Amen.