Almost every morning, I freshly grind some home-roasted beans and make a delicious cup of coffee–often in my Exegetical Tools Greek Coffee mug. Not only would this mug feed your own nerdy language proclivities, but it would make a perfect Christmas gift for your friends, your pastor, or any language nerd.
But this is more than just a mug with some Greek on it.
Mornings are crucial for kingdom work. Mornings set the tone for the day. They decide whether we will treat others with love and generosity, or whether we will set our course for selfishness and self-aggrandizement.
That’s why I wanted a mug that reminded me, every morning, that “the chief aim of man” is to glorify God.
As I hold this mug in my right hand and sip my… oh, say, Kenyan city roast… I am faced with the beautiful claim by Paul that not only can we do the big things for God’s glory–baptizing new believers, preaching a glorious sermon–but we can do the little things for God’s glory. We can eat for God’s glory. We can sip coffee for God’s glory. Literally anything we do can be for God’s glory. I love being stared down by 1 Cor 10:31 every morning.
For me, this generally means that I am reminded that my plans can wait, and my family gets my best before I get to work. My 1 and 4 year old get my attention, my leadership during breakfast prayers and devotions, and my wife gets my partnership. I’m ready to move on to “important” things, but Paul tells me to get over myself, and to sip my coffee while loving my family.
On front side of the mug is my own composition: “Make and take and drink to the glory of God”…because a free Greek composition is just fun. Also, staring at a few aorist/present imperative forms every day will help you to memorize some principal parts!
Most of all, I’d be thrilled to see this mug get into the hands of dozens of scholars, pastors, fathers, mothers, students, and lay people this Christmas. I’d be excited to know that hundreds of other Greek nerds were sipping their coffee each morning, having their own depravity confronted by the words of God through the apostle Paul:
Drink this coffee to God’s glory, and set the right tone for the rest of your day.
