And yet, and yet…

Coffee is one of those areas where my pseudo-OCD crosses paths with my trend of laziness. If you’ve seen my office up at the church, you’ll know that I have a set of 7 coffee mugs that I designate for each day of the week. I do this because I like routine, and also if one of my mugs is missing it can be easier to locate. The order is comforting to me.

But then comes the irony: even though I’m compulsive on having that kind of order for my mugs, I also only usually wash the mugs once every couple of months. In my mind, coffee is just water and coffee grounds (I always drink it black), so what’s the harm in leaving some coffee residue? In fact, in my mind it helps the taste by blending from day to day. Welcome to flavor country.

And yet, when it comes to drinking after other people in my own house I give that a hard pass. There’s something about drinking water that’s been in touch with other people’s mouths that is not so comforting to me.

Yes I am aware that my hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Why do I bother to write about this? It strikes me that my inconsistency of mug hygiene is not an uncommon thing for us. There are many things in our lives that we do or practice that are sinful or unacceptable. We are quick to give justification or explanation for our personal sins. And yet, when we observe these same or similar issues in others, we jump to judgment or disgust. And often, we pair that with a sense of self-contentment utilizing the pernicious justification, “Well at least I don’t…”

Today friends, you’ll scan social media and the news and maybe even your own family and friends and point out their coffee circles while neglecting your own. It may be that the opportunity of seeing the issues of others can encourage you to clean your own cups. Praise God for the gift of self-perspective, as it gives us the opportunity to reconcile and restore with the broken around us. And praise Jesus that he brings that cleansing to us by his grace.

So if you’ll excuse me, I suppose I’ll need to get those mugs into the washing machine this week.

Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3-5