My Coffee Cup Meditations

Oct

2021

Coffeetime Anytime

We’re introducing a new format for the wonderful My Coffee-Cup Meditations. Here’s an introduction to the AUTUMN volume–Coffeetime in Autumn: Bible-Based Meditations for Each Day of the Season.

Roger Ellsworth writes these words in the introduction:

Introduction: All About this Series

From God’s Word, the Bible…

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

John 10:1-6

What you have here is the fourth part of what was produced as a big book—twelve books all in one, in fact. The idea of connecting enjoying coffee and reading the Bible devotionally happened early in 2017 when I wrote the first book in what became a series of My Coffee-Cup Meditations.

Tender shepherds take the best care of their sheep. They lead them to where there is good, nutritious grass, a supply of fresh water, shade from fierce heat, and he is sure to defend them from animals that would prey on them. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. He tends His sheep, believers He has redeemed by His work on the cross. And He feeds them from the rich treasures of His Word, the Bible. God’s Word is nourishing food when it is regularly imbibed through reading, reflection, and study. Christians must read the Bible, and so a daily devotional book can significantly help in this regard.

Early mornings are very predictable for lots and lots of Christians. Roll out of bed, turn on the coffee pot, pour a cup, settle into a favorite chair and enjoy what is called “the daily devotional.” This usually consists of reading a passage from the Bible and a selection from a devotional book. It concludes with prayer.

Christians who follow this pattern can go through a good bit of devotional material as the years go by. So they are always looking for new material—something to go along with their Bible and their coffee.

Hoping that I could be helpful in supplying the need for more devotional material, I gathered up some articles I had written and put them in a book—A Dog and a Clock. The idea was to supply brothers and sisters in Christ with enough devotions to carry them through one month. That quickly led to another book—The Thumbs Up Man—to carry “devotion-doers” through another month and then another.

You can guess what happened after three or four books came out. There are twelve months in the year. So why not provide enough books to cover a year? So off we went and out the books came until there were finally twelve books, each with thirty-one readings! Since these books were designed to go with the Bible and a good cup of coffee, it seemed right to call them My Coffee-Cup Meditations. Thanks to my good friends Jim and Sue Holmes for that suggestion! And thanks to my wife, Sylvia, and my sons, Tim and Martyn, for contributing some chapters along the way.

Then came the idea of producing the books together, so that there would be enough readings for a whole year, and with some left over, as not all months have thirty-one days. So the result is that we combined all twelve of the books into one big one: The Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations! That way, people would be able to read from whichever month they wished to at any time in the year—and never have too few days in the month, because there would always be thirty-one readings in each month!

As we thought and prayed about how to present these books in yet another format, the idea of Bible readings for each of the seasons of the year came to mind: Coffeetime in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. And so it is that you are holding the fourth of the set of four books in your hand!
One of my main concerns in writing these books was to cause the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to shine. It’s wrong to think that the gospel is for unbelievers only. Believers need the gospel! We need to be reminded again and again of the greatness of what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The more we ponder the gospel and the more deeply we ponder it, the more we will find our hearts flooded with gratitude, and the more willing we will be to faithfully serve Him.

My Coffee-Cup Meditations are published for you with the hope that you will read the devotions, enjoy them, and, most of all, find that you are inspired to consider the greatness of God, the relevance of the good news of the life, death, resurrection, and coming-again of Jesus, and are better equipped for life in this world and well prepared for the world to come.

And don’t forget to pour that cup of coffee!

Buy your copy on Amazon HERE.

Aug

2020

The Passing of a Celebrity: When Michael Jackson Died

From God’s Word, the Bible…

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Hebrews 9:27-28

Michael Jackson is dead. At one time, he had great wealth. He still had great fame when he breathed his last. But now he is gone.

In reporting his death, one newsperson continued to express shock that this famous man had died at age fifty. It was as if he, the newsman, was assuming that one has to be a certain age to die!

But death is all around us all the time. We are reminded of it when we drive by a cemetery, hospital or nursing facility, or when we see an obituary column.

Death takes young and old, rich and poor, the well educated and the illiterate, conservative and liberal. The greatest fact of life is death.

Martin Luther was right in saying the following words: “Life is a constant and daily journey toward death. One after another dies, and the living must merely engage in the miserable business of carrying one another to the grave. All of us are traveling the same road together.”

The Bible tells us that the wise man thinks about what lies ahead and makes prudent preparation for it (Prov. 22:3). The fool never does.

If death is inevitable, is it not wise to think about it and prepare for it?

But how many there are who seem to think life is sure and death is uncertain. Just the opposite is true!

Many people, these days, would argue that there is nothing for which to prepare because death is the end. Really? Isn’t there something inside you that screams that it is not so?

The Bible tells us that we were made by God and for God and we must meet God. It flatly says: “Prepare to meet your God. . .!” (Amos 4:12).

But how do we prepare for death? The Bible has the answer for that as well. It tells us to repent of our sins and to take the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Why take Jesus? He has demonstrated His authority over death by rising from the grave.

If you don’t know how to handle something, the best thing to do is go to someone who does know how to handle it. You and I are not able to handle death and what lies beyond it, but the Lord Jesus is able. If we place ourselves in His hands, we have nothing to fear about death or the hereafter.

But we must truly take Jesus as our Savior and not just go through the motions of doing so. If we really trust Him, it will show up in our lives. We will not try to govern our lives with no regard for Him, for His Book (the Bible), for His day (the Lord’s Day), or for His church. Many who think they have received Christ have only deceived themselves.

I have come to love a song that urges people to come to Jesus and “laugh on glory’s side.” There is indeed a glory side for those who receive Christ. It is called heaven. And Jesus is the way! If you want to take the fear out of death and “laugh on glory’s side,” turn to Christ now.

Because we never know when death will come, sooner is always better than later for fleeing to Christ.

Apr

2020

Dogs That Won’t Bark

From God’s Word, the Bible…

All you beasts of the field, come to devour,
All you beasts in the forest.
His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant;
They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark;
Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough.
And they are shepherds who cannot understand;
They all look to their own way,
Every one for his own gain,
From his own territory.
“Come,” one says, “I will bring wine,
And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink;
Tomorrow will be as today, and much more abundant.”

Isaiah 56:9-12

Sometimes I think my wife and I should have bought a Basenji. What is a Basenji? It is a dog without a bark.

The reason I think that from time to time is that our dog Molly barks and barks and barks. A good bit of her day is taken up with barking. She barks at people who are taking their walks (and especially if they happen to be walking their dogs). She barks at delivery people. She barks at the mail truck. She barks at neighbors who are working in their yards. She barks when someone knocks or rings the doorbell. She has a special hatred for the boxer (a dog, not a fighter) that lives next door, and barks furiously every time she sees him.

Molly loves to bark, and it can get rather annoying because she has a very loud bark. She is the little dog with the big bark.

Annoying? Yes. But I recognize that there may come a time when Molly’s bark has real value. If a burglar were to attempt to sneak in while we are sleeping, Molly would most certainly hear him and sound the alarm. What good is a dog without a bark when a danger is threatening the family?

The people of Judah were facing real danger: “beasts of the field” were coming “to devour” (v. 9). The crying need was for the “watchmen” stationed on the wall of the city to see the danger and sound the alarm, but, alas, the watchmen were “dumb dogs” that “cannot bark.” They preferred to lie down and take a nap rather than exert the energy to bark (v. 10).

All of this constitutes a picture of a far greater reality. Judah wasn’t being threatened by literal beasts. She was rather being threatened by foreign nations who hated her and wanted to destroy her. And the term “watchmen” doesn’t really refer to the men on the wall. It rather refers to the spiritual leaders of the nation who should have had enough discernment to see the situation. They should have seen that Judah’s enemies were coming against her because of the sinfulness of the people, and they should have called them to repent.

We need Mollys in our pulpits today. We need preachers who will bark at the sight of danger. We need men who will tell sinners that they are sinners, and if they don’t flee to Christ in true repentance and faith they are facing “everlasting destruction” (2 Thess. 1:9).

We need preachers who will warn Christians that spiritual coldness and indifference will lead to woeful results for themselves as individuals and for the church in general.

The sad truth is many preachers won’t bark. They have opted for a “feel-good” religion.

Why is it that so many preachers refuse to bark these days? Many are more concerned about the times than they are about the truth. They read opinion polls with more interest and fervor than they read the Word of God. They dread nothing more than being out of step.

Then there are those who tone down the message out of their concern for “nickels and noses.” They don’t want to run the risk of offending their hearers because they want to keep them coming to church and want them to continue giving their money.

A non-barking preacher is dangerous and should be avoided, but a barking preacher is an inestimable treasure. If you don’t have a barking preacher, find one, and if you do have one, pray for him and prize him. Someone has observed that the pastor who loves his people the most is the one who tells them the most truth about themselves.

I’m thankful that many years ago, a common, ordinary preacher stepped into the pulpit and barked at me. He told me that I must leave this world and stand before a holy God. He told me about my sin, and, thank God, he told me that God forgives sinners on the basis of the redeeming work of Christ. When I meet that preacher in heaven, I want to weep, fall on his neck, and kiss him (Acts 20:37).

Thank God for a barking preacher.

Copyright, Roger Ellsworth, from Fading Lines, Unfading Hope … And 30 Other Bible-Based Meditations or Month 4 in The Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations (available from Amazon HERE).

Apr

2020

Meeting God Beyond the Coffee

I first came across Ellsworth’s My Coffee Cup Meditations when I joined the heady ranks of the newly-retired, free to travel, meet friends and pursue interests. Prayer, the bedrock of our relationship with God, became haphazard and was often relegated to the end of my day. My Coffee Cup Meditations introduced me to a novel solution: why not invite God to join me for coffee? The short reflective chapters in these slim books are a natural springboard for prayer, and I love a nice coffee! Sipping from my cup I would close my eyes and imagine Our Lord beside me. It became our special time together—just Him and me. I never felt the need to do anything, or even to say much. The closeness I felt was prayer enough. That all-important coffee motivated me to prioritize time for God, and those intimate sessions fed my soul as nothing else could.

That was then, but this is now. The global pandemic has unsettled everyone: people are dying, there is self-isolation, streets are empty, workers laid off, schools closed, church services canceled, gatherings banned, routines disrupted…and cabin fever is beginning to bite. If there is a single spiritual lesson to be learned from this pandemic, it is surely a greater understanding of the fragility of human life.

Is there an upside to all this? Yes—we now have lots of extra time!

God, who rejoices when we spend time with Him, has given us the gift of Time. The frenetic busyness of our daily lives has wound down giving us a golden opportunity to spend more time with Him. I may have tripped lightly with my Godly coffee sessions in the not-so-long-ago sunlit past, pitifully short as they often were, but I am thankful to My Coffee Cup Meditations for ensuring I did not lose my grip on making a regular time for prayer—something for which I now have all the time in the world.

Guest post kindly submitted by Mrs. Frith Robb, Edinburgh, Scotland

Mar

2020

Whenever I am Afraid. . .

Whenever I am Afraid

Here is a reading we shared three years ago… It is from A Dog and A Clock (Book 1, Paperback) or The Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations.

From God’s Word, the Bible…

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?

I sought the LORD, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.

In the multitude of my anxieties within me,
Your comforts delight my soul.

Psalm 27:1; Psalm 34:4; Psalm 94:19

In Psalm 56:3, David admits to being afraid. To be afraid is to be “filled with fear or apprehension.” That word “afraid” is all too familiar! We are often filled with fear and apprehension. Most of our fears have to do with our lives or the lives of those we love either being lessened in quality or coming to an end.

Many things can lessen the quality of our lives or the lives of our loved ones—sickness, financial reversals, family discord, world conditions, and many other things. There is no shortage of things to bring about apprehension!

And the biggest one of all is death itself! How many people have proudly marched through life as if they were in control and as if they were sufficient for everything, only to tremble and cower when they came to death’s door! Haughty and proud in his disdain for Christianity, skeptic David Hume whimpered at death: “I am affrighted and confounded with the forlorn solitude in which I am placed by my philosophy… I fancy myself in the most deplorable condition imaginable, environed in the deepest darkness.”

The David who wrote Psalm 56:3 was the man who stood fearlessly before Goliath. But he was “very much afraid” when he took up his pen to write this psalm. He was in the land of the Philistines, where he did not belong, and it seemed to him that King Achish would soon snuff out his life (see 1 Sam. 21:12). But David collected himself, looked to God, and wrote: “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”

“Whenever” means “at whatever time,” or “at any or every time.” In Psalm 56:3, it is a beautiful word! At whatever time or at any time David finds himself gripped with fear, he will trust in God. Every time he is afraid, he will trust God. Trusting is always the great antidote for fearing.

Are you, like David and so many others, frightened by the thought of death? Trust in God! He has both made glorious promises regarding death and has shown Himself to be utterly faithful to His promises.

What has God promised about this matter of death? He has promised His people will not face it alone, that He Himself will meet them in the “valley of the shadow” and will shepherd them safely through (Ps. 23:4). He has promised that at the very moment of death, the souls of His people will go immediately into His presence (2 Cor. 5:6-8). And He has promised that the bodies of all those who belong to Him will finally be raised from their graves, rejoined to their souls, and will forever be with Him in eternal glory (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

What promises! But please note that these are promises God has given only to His people! Not all are His people. Those who are not in a right relationship with Him have His promise that they will face Him in judgment and will be driven forever from His presence (2 Thess. 1:8-10). That will cause any thinking person to really be afraid! (Luke 12:4-5).

Are you afraid of that immensely sobering time when you will have to stand before God in judgment? God has given a promise for you to trust. He has promised that He will forgive all those who trust completely in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in what He did on the cross for sinners like you and me (John 3:16,36; 5:24; 6:47; 1 John 5:11-12).

Those who believe in Jesus can rejoice in these words from the Apostle Paul: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Rom. 8:1).

Afraid? Don’t be! Trust God’s promise to save sinners and then trust His promises to take care of His people. Make it your policy to say to God: “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”

Roger Ellsworth

Dec

2019

Cookie, The Christmas Dog

Cookie the Christmas Dog and the Repackaging of Christmas

From God’s Word, the Bible…

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
From Luke 2:8-14

Years ago, Sylvia and I had a dog named Cookie. She was a delight. I still miss her. Cookie was our Christmas dog and she loved Christmas.

One year Sylvia and I returned home to find that Cookie had opened some of the Christmas presents! Suffice it to say, it was necessary for us to do some repackaging.

But there is some Christmas re-packaging these days that is not necessary. Let me explain.

Most church leaders want to see their churches grow in membership and in attendance. I say “most” because I have met a few folks down through the years who preferred for the church to stay small. In one of my previous pastorates, a deacon got upset because our church was growing so much! Imagine that! I think he had a Diotrephes problem (see 3 John 9).

The other extreme consists of those who are willing to do anything to see their churches grow. This is the explanation for much of modern-day Christendom, which is in the grip of what may be called a sinister sequence.

This sequence begins with church leaders asking this question: “What can we do to get our church to grow?”

The answer to that question often amounts to this: We must get people to like us! The reasoning here is that if people like us, they will want to be around us, and if they want to be around us, they will come to church.

That, of course, leads to yet another question: What can we do to get people to like us?

And the answer to that is often along these lines: We must give them what they want and stop giving them things they don’t want.

It doesn’t take a lot of research to determine that people these days don’t want to hear about sin, judgment to come or a man dying on a cross. So we must get rid of these things! Out with them! We must not allow ourselves to be troubled by the fact that for centuries these very things were considered to be the essential, non-negotiable core of Christianity! We must repackage Christianity into something that is marketable today!

When the repackaging is done, we have a Christianity that is more like a successful-living philosophy. We tell people to believe in Jesus so they can be happy in this life. The one fact that the re-packagers seem to be unwilling to face is this: there are plenty of non-Christians who are very happy with their lives! So when we tell them to accept Jesus to be happy, they simply smile and say, “No, thank you. We’re already quite happy without Jesus. You may need Him, but we don’t. So keep Him to yourself.”

The truth of the matter is that many people today are presenting the Christian message in such a way that they are giving others a perfectly good reason for rejecting it.

But do we not run into the same problem when we tell people that they need Jesus because they are sinners? Can they not merely say that they don’t feel like they are sinners and, therefore, do not need Jesus? Yes, they can say it, but the evidence is against them, and the voice of conscience tells them that the evidence is against them!

The church today finds herself in the peculiar position of telling people they need Jesus as their Savior after she, the church, has removed from her teaching any reason for people to need a Savior.

When we next approach the Christmas season, we would do well to reflect deeply on the words the angel spoke to Joseph: “. . .you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).

Only sinners need saving. Since we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23), we all need saving. The good news of Christmas is that the Savior has come into the world. His name is Jesus. And He will save all those who see the reality and enormity of their sins and come to Him for saving.

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Nov

2019

Three Reasons to Be of Good Cheer

A Thanksgiving Meditation

Cheer is somewhat of an old-fashioned word. It has the idea of encouragement, of seeing things in a better light, especially when circumstances change for the better. At this time of Thanksgiving, here is a reading from Book 11 (Old Houses, New Houses) in The Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations. Enjoy reading it!

Three Cheers from Jesus

From God’s Word, the Bible…

So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

Matthew 9:1-2

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

Matthew 9:22

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

Matthew 14:27

The Gospel of Matthew reports three occasions on which Jesus said: “Be of good cheer.” On each of those occasions, Jesus was speaking to an individual or a group who were beaten down and on the verge of despair. On the first occasion, Jesus spoke to a man who had been paralyzed for a long time. On the second occasion, He spoke to a woman who for twelve years had suffered from a hemorrhage. On the third occasion, He spoke to His disciples who were trying to pilot their little boat through a stormy sea.What are the truths that we can draw from these situations? The first is this: We can be of good cheer because Jesus forgives sin (9:1-2).

In this passage we have a paralyzed man lying on his bed, and Jesus says: “Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

What does this say to us? The answer couldn’t be plainer. It affirms that Jesus regarded this man’s spiritual condition as being more important than his physical condition. That’s not to say that Jesus wasn’t interested in his physical condition. He was, and He proved it by healing him. But that’s not where Jesus started. No one had said a word to Jesus about forgiving this man’s sins, but that is where Jesus began.

Jesus put the emphasis in the right place. We all have to leave this world and meet God. No one will be able to stand in God’s holy presence unless his sins are forgiven. The good news that emerges from Jesus’ dealings with the paralyzed man is this: Jesus can and does forgive sins. He came to this earth for the express purpose of providing the way for our sins to be forgiven. He did so by dying on the cross. There He received the penalty for sinners so that all who come to Him in repentance and faith will never receive that same penalty but will rather receive forgiveness.

The second truth we see from the three cheers of Jesus is this: We can be of good cheer because Jesus values imperfect faith (9:22)The woman who had suffered for twelve years with “a flow of blood” (9:20) quite obviously had imperfect faith. Her faith that Jesus could heal her was mixed up with some superstition. She seems to have regarded Jesus as something of a magician who exuded power to those who touched Him. So, she managed to work her way through the crowd around Jesus and touch Him. And that touch was rewarded as Jesus healed her.

We can and should be thankful that the Lord doesn’t require us to have perfect faith before He saves us. Weak faith is still faith. What a consolation that is! J.C. Ryle writes:

Our faith may be feeble; our courage may be small; our grasp of the Gospel and its promises, may be weak and trembling,—but, after all, the grand question is, Do we really trust only in Christ? Do we look to Jesus, and only to Jesus, for pardon and peace? If this be so, it is well. (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew, The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1995, p. 89.)

The truth we discover from Jesus’ third cheering statement is very comforting, namely, We can be of good cheer because Jesus is with us in the storms of life (14:27).

After feeding a multitude of five thousand, Jesus told His disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee. They soon encountered a ferocious storm. The boat “was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by waves, for the wind was contrary” (14:24).

Jesus came to His disciples by walking on the sea. His first words to them were: “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

Jesus did marvelous things in that storm. He enabled Simon Peter to walk toward Him on the water and then rescued him when, after a good start, he began to sink. Jesus then stepped with Simon into the boat, and the wind immediately ceased (14:28-32).

We have our storms, too. And they can be very threatening and frightening. But the Lord Jesus has promised to be with us all through this life (Heb. 13:5), and that includes the storms. With Him beside us, our fear can give away to cheer.

These three passages put the Lord Jesus on display. We see His perfect knowledge, His abounding sympathy, and His sovereign authority and power. Our response should be to worship Him as His disciples did when He stilled the storm (14:33).

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Coffeetime Anytime

Coffeetime Anytime

Introduction: All About this Series

Cookie, The Christmas Dog

Cookie the Christmas Dog and the Repackaging of Christmas

From God’s Word, the Bible…

Video Intro to Coffeetime in All Four Seasons

Video Intro to the BIG BOOK of Coffee Cup Meditations

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Coffeetime Anytime

Introduction: All About this Series

The Passing of a Celebrity: When Michael Jackson Died

From God’s Word, the Bible…

Dogs That Won’t Bark

From God’s Word, the Bible…

Meeting God Beyond the Coffee

Guest post kindly submitted by Mrs. Frith Robb, Edinburgh, Scotland

Whenever I am Afraid

From God’s Word, the Bible…

Cookie the Christmas Dog and the Repackaging of Christmas

From God’s Word, the Bible…

Three Reasons to Be of Good Cheer

A Thanksgiving Meditation

Three Cheers from Jesus

From God’s Word, the Bible…

This BIG BOOK is the BIGGEST BOOK we have ever published!

The Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations includes the following twelve titles:

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Video Introduction to the Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations

Video Intro to Coffeetime in All Four Seasons

Video Intro to the BIG BOOK of Coffee Cup Meditations

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