Cookies and Coffee

God teaches me all kinds of lessons, sometimes through the smallest things. The one that

is the most vivid in my mind right now is an object lesson I learned a few days ago during my

breakfast and devotional time. It started with a cookie, not an Oreo or chocolate chip cookie, but

one of those long round fudge-filled cookies which, quite honestly, looks like a narrow cigar. We

currently have over a dozen of them because I decided to use the tins which they come in for a

Pinterest-inspired Christmas gift.

            I usually carry one of the cookies me to the recliner on my leisure mornings to dip in my

coffee while I read my devotional. That morning, however, I had my coffee in one hand, and the

rest of my breakfast in the other. Without giving it much thought, I put the cookie down in the

coffee cup, with its one end of it poking out. I intended to pull it out and dip it like I had before. I

underestimated the effects the hot coffee would have on it. During the few seconds it took for me

to walk to the recliner, the cookie had almost completely melted into the coffee. A few seconds

later, even the tip of it had succumbed to the steaming liquid and the only evidence of the cookie

was a filmy residue floating on top. So much for a coffee-flavored cookie, now I had cookie-

flavored coffee!

            As I watched the cookie disappear into the coffee, I recognized it as a picture of how time

with God should affect us as Christians. Too often, I want to be simply “dipped” into God’s

truth, and be flavored by Him, when what He really wants is for me to be immersed in Him, to

let Him saturate me with His very essence.

            When I drank my coffee down to the bottom of the cup, I found my cookie, or rather,

what was left of it. The hard, flaky wafer had been melted away and the fudgy inside lay in a

gooey glob at the bottom.

            Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the

renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of

God.”

            When we jump into God’s Word and are immersed in His presence, we become forever

changed. The crusty layer of self is melted away, leaving a heart surrendered to God and ready to

show the love of Christ to the world.

            My prayer that morning was that I would be truly changed by God’s power and presence,

that I would not simply be flavored by Him, but be transformed.