Have you ever had a Mandarine Mocha? Dark rich chocolate with the sweet zesty flavor of orange all tangled together with cream and espresso... There are few drinks out there like it. This latte turns out really good, when it's done right. I have found most baristas struggle to make this drink on their first try. Why is that do you think? Too much chocolate? Not enough orange? Or maybe they pulled the shot of espresso wrong? That fastest answer would be "no". Have you ever poured milk with orange juice? If you did, it would instantly curdle itself. Once this happens, there's no undoing it. What this combo needs, is a bonding agent. Common ground. What this drink needs, is espresso. When you combine the orange with the coffee first, suddendly, there's harmony between the milk and orange flavor. Magic happens.
I was driving to Junction one day when I had this first original though about how this concept related to relationships. At the time, I was personally relating it to marriage, but over the past seven months of praying over this concept, I have found it relates to all relationships. Everyone is different. We all have different past experiences that might cause us to respond to the same stuation differently. We may have preferences on how people should act or what they should wear. How we demonstrate and receive love and affection is also different. Some people need to hear words of affirmation. "Good job", "your hair looks great today", "I love you". Others need physical contact. Hugs, a pat on the back, holding hands. There are 5 different love languages out there. Several books have been written on them. I know when I served missions in Asia, everyone one of my teammates had a book about the different love languages and they really enjoyed doing the eneagram quizzes. They enjoy understanding people. How can I love this person better? It's a question I think we should ask ourselves more often. How can I love this person, they way Jesus calls me to?
I see it all over social media, "God told me...." and the thing they believe God told them, doesn't line up with scripture. What is your response? Do we comment and tell them they are wrong? Do we get angry and confront them privatly? Do we ignore them and leave them be? All questions I know many pastors would be eager to answer from the pullpit. Everyone's response will be different. So I think the question we should be asking ourselves isn't what is the best response, but "how can I love this person, they way Jesus does"? When you open your Bible, Jesus responds to different situations very differently each time. He might flip tables, or he might stop dead in his tracks to ask "who touched me" meanwhile there is someone else who needs His help. We live in a world with extremists. We either lean this way or that. One christian might feel called to go overseas and love on the hungry and poor in India. Meanwhile, another christian calls after them to say, how can you go overseas when there are the poor and homeless here at your back door? It causes division. Makes us bitter. Suddenly, rather than doing something we feel called to do, we spend our time advocating on which is more important. We find ourselves bitter and calloused towards one another. The difference between bitter and better is "i". When we take the focus off ourselves things become clearer.
James 4:8
"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."
You might be asking yourself, how on earth does this have any relation to coffee.. Just like the Mandarine Mocha, you have two opposites that do not mix well. When combined, they separate from themselves. But when you have that bonding agent there (espresso/Jesus), suddenly the two compliment. Your local missionaries are able to support the foreign missionaries, the the foreign missionaries encourage the local missaionaries. There is purpose for the both of them. There's teamwork and comradery. When we focus on Jesus first, there's peace. What I love about this example though, is that it only takes one person to make the change. I hear all the time, "but you don't understand, they're never going to..." and you fill in the blanks. I think what Jesus teaches us, is it's not about what they will or won't do. What are you going to do? How will you respond? Will it be done in love? Or will it be done in trying to prove who's right? Because Jesus is always right. There is a time and a season for everything. Jesus knows what the balance is. We will send ourselves in circles trying to find our own balance. Let God be the one to discern. The apropraite response for any encounter with someone is to pray. Prayer is a powerful tool. One I think most Christians today take for granted. Like texting and cell phones, we have all this access in our day and age and we treat it so carelessly. Prayer is precious. It's essential to daily living. When you wake up in the morning, do you pick up your phone, check the time, your emails and socials first? Or do you turn to Jesus and pray for the patience to love those He places in our path? Do we open His word to show us how Jesus loved first? When making the Mandarine Mocha, all you have to do is mix just one of the ingredients with the espresso first and it won't sour. If you add the espresso after it's already curdled, it won't do anything. So turn to Jesus before you sour a relationship. Turn to prayer before you make that call. Turn to Jesus before anything.
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