The original Starbucks in downtown Seattle doesn't have near the decor or appeal as does everyone which has come after it. This Starbucks is full of brown cardboard boxes, they don't sell travel mugs or coffee cups off the shelf, and there are no bistro tables where one could take advantage of free wifi for hours on end. Quite simply, this store just sells coffee. There is a quiet confidence that comes from saying, "We are a coffee shop, and we will sell coffee...not an image."
During my recent travels to WA I spent many hours on a plane and just about as many in a car named Danica, she was a beaut! During my time on the plane I had the honor to spend a significant amount of time getting to know Brett (on the way to WA) and Clint (on the way home), both of which were from the Seattle area. These men are very different from one another, yet very similar at the same time. Sometimes as we interact with people in our hometowns the relationships turn into productions...like extravagant local coffee shops. But these two men carried a quiet confidence which I appreciated, much like the coffee shop that decides to "sell coffee" I found an honest realness that was not intimidated by the views we held that were different.
There was an amazing hope that swelled in my heart as I shared the depths of the gospel which I imagine these great men had never heard. They listened with attentiveness, asked questions with inquisitiveness, and considered every word of the Scriptures. For a moment, the gospel encountered a world which has not made room for the God of the Bible, and I will continue to pray for Clint and Brett, that they would trade in the fears of a self led life for the hope of a life in relationship with the Creator of the world.
The gospel of Jesus is not is not in need of our fancy productions, free wifi and bistro tables. What God has revealed to me is that the gospel of Jesus needs the homes of the Church to be less like the Starbucks chain closest to your neighborhood and more like the original...please consider how your home can become less dependant upon the gimmicks of decor and mass appeal and begin to carry a quiet confidence as you merely train your spouse and children to trust everything to the One who gave you everything.
"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
