A group of successful college alumni got together to visit their old professor, and the conversation quickly turned into complaints about stress of their demanding jobs. The professor brought out a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – ranging from exquisite porcelain, crystal, and glass cups to some plain paper and Styrofoam cups – and told them to help themselves to coffee.
When everyone had a cup of coffee in their hand, the professor said, “Did anyone notice that all the fancy, expensive cups were chosen, leaving behind the plain cups? While it’s normal for us to want only the best, that is often the source of our problems and stress. The cup itself adds no quality to the coffee, rather it often just makes it more expensive and can even hide what we drink. All you each wanted was coffee, not the cup, but everyone desired the best cups, and even began comparing and envying each other’s cups.”
Here’s the way I see this Christmas season: Christ is our coffee. All the decorations, gifts, party preparations, are the cups. The type of cup we have does not define or change who Jesus is and why He came to earth, yet all too many of us concentrate on only the cup and fail to enjoy the coffee. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything – rather they have Jesus and everything else is irrelevant.