I’m going to tell you something I thought I’d never say (or put into writing): recently my wife and I decided to stop drinking coffee and wean ourselves off of caffeine. (Relax: this isn’t about trying to get you to do the same.)

If you know me at all, you’re probably surprised. For the last seventeen years or so I have drunk coffee, bought coffee, ground coffee and brewed coffee. I have read and researched coffee’s history and how to make it properly, at restaurant strength.

I have purchased my own whole beans and tried out several different kinds of grinders. I’ve collected a large assortment of coffee mugs (if you’ve been in our kitchen, you can testify). I’ve had many different kinds of coffee makers: drip makers, French presses, espresso machines, a stove top espresso maker, and a Keurig. I have all kinds of coffee gadgets, with which to measure, store, stir, foam, flavor and serve coffee.

I love to make coffee. I love the smell of the beans, the way the smell intensifies when you grind the beans, and the sound of the coffee maker as it happily gurgles out another pot of dark, smokey, flavorful brew. I love to make it for my wife in the morning. I love to make it for my kids when they come over. I love to make it for guests. Chances are, I’ve made some for you.

I love coffee, and so does my wife. So why are we quitting coffee? The short answer is: we have become convinced that caffeine is doing a whole lot of bad things to our health.

We may be wrong, but it’s a testable hypothesis. And it won’t cost us anything to find out, except some time. We’ve been tapering off of coffee/caffeine for about 5 weeks now, and we’re almost caffeine–free. They say it takes 60 days after you come off of caffeine, to feel the full effects of living without it.

Now let me tell you, if I don’t feel great by Thanksgiving, I’m buying more coffee! But the initial results are promising: I feel less tense, less “on edge”. Our neck and shoulder tension is disappearing. We’re sleeping better. I feel like my mind is clearer, and I’m thinking better (I know you will all welcome evidence of that!). And I told my wife just yesterday: I don’t feel so drop-dead dog-tired, even at the end of the day. It was so discouraging to wake up in the morning, feeling about as tired as when I went to bed. I don’t feel that way so much, now. If it keeps getting better, I might even be able to keep up with my grandson, before long.

Okay, so now you’re thinking, “I thought this wasn’t about convincing us to give up coffee?” It really isn’t. I still have some coffee, and if you come over to my house , I’ll even brew you some, if you want it. But I needed you to understand our situation and what motivated us to try this, in order to make my point:

Sometimes, there are things in life that are worth the sacrifice.

Jesus said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45) When you really see the value of belonging to Jesus and being part of His Kingdom, it’s worth more than all the world.

I once knew a man who’d been through Alcoholic’s Anonymous. He told me something I’ve always remembered. He said: “People only change when their pain reaches an unacceptable level.” He went on to talk about how the pain in his life reached that unacceptable level; “But”, he said, “I lived for years with all the pain my alcoholism caused, to me and my family. Most people are content to live with their pain at a ‘tolerable’ level.”

When I was a teenager, I drifted away from God. It was only after I’d made ruin of too many important relationships, and put my life” in the ditch”, that my level of pain became too high for me. The Spirit of God reminded me of how wonderful it really is to live for Jesus instead of yourself. So, I let go of everything I’d been holding onto so tightly: wrong relationships, wrong activities, wrong goals. I traded them all, just to be back with Jesus. I was broken, and I was starting over…but for the first time in a long time, I felt peaceful inside. It was worth everything I had to “give up”. The truth is, Jesus was and is worth far more than any of those things that I “gave up”.

Even after we have come to the Lord Jesus (or come back to Him), we still come to places in our lives where there is something that’s hindering our walk with God. I can testify that, even after a profound experience of returning to the Father from “the far country”, it is still so easy to just drift along and settle into “an acceptable level of pain” rather than do what it takes to keep close to God.

Hebrews 12:1 reads: “Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”. The point is this: sometimes there are things in our lives that are not helpful to us, as we run the race God has set for us. And I mean primarily in the realm of spiritual things. Regarding things that are not clearly wrong, the Bible says, “All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.” (1 Corinthians 10:23) When we discover something in our life that isn’t helping us, that might be hindering us, how willing are we to give it up and lay it aside? In my case, most of the time I have to say: not very! But the fact of the matter is, I’m only hurting myself by holding onto things that hinder me.

Now before I close let me say this plainly: I do not think coffee is sinful…no matter what the Mormons say. I’m just using coffee as an example in the physical realm, of something you might need to give up in the spiritual realm, for you own benefit. I don’t think drinking coffee is a sin.

I just think it’ll make you feel like the devil. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!)

Paul said, re: things like this, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5) So, I’ll still accept you, even if you’re “caffeinated”; and you accept me, even though I’m “Sanka-fied”.

But let’s all watch the other things that can trip us up as we run with Jesus. Whatever it is, it’s not worth coming between Him and us.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Pastor David