Brewed in the Love of the Lord

I enjoy drinking coffee, specially with friends.  'Having coffee' becomes a venue to catch up with each other's lives or discuss an interesting topic.

Surely, many would agree that brewed coffee is far better than the instant ones. The process of making a cup of coffee involves roasting of coffee beans, grinding of the beans, mixing the ground beans with hot water (brewing), and separating the liquid for a cup of freshly brewed coffee.  This process has some similarities to our Christian lives.

We are like the coffee beans, we inevitably experience  heat or challenges in our lives. Sometimes we feel like being roasted and even ground with our concerns. "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair (2 Cor. 4:8)." But it is when we go through the roasting and grinding that we are brewed in the love of the Lord.  Even if the process is difficult and long, it is the way we can share to others the flavor of Christ in our lives. "For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11)"

Recall the "roasting and grinding" experiences of your life.  Share your Christ experience in these times.  Have these experiences made you bitter or sweet?