Why Coffee Is a Virtue
I hated coffee for most of my life. It tasted gross, somehow both sour and bitter. Surely only caffeine addicts would drink such offensive dirty water…then I encountered the dreaded comprehensive exams in my doctoral program. The comprehensive exams are aptly named. They are meant to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge in your field of study. As an Old Testament student with a New Testament minor, I was expected to have comprehensive knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, and all major academic discussions surrounding both the Old and New Testaments. Yeah about that…
The comprehensive tests are also terminal exams (not terminal in that they kill you…though they might). By terminal, I mean that if you fail these tests, there’s an immediate “exit this ride here” sign with no option of getting back on. They hand you a Master of Theology degree, pat you on the back, and say that you’re not quite cut out for the academic world. Needless to say, I and every other doctoral student in this semester of their education find themselves faced with a not-so-healthy dose of anxiety. So, after countless late study nights with 3-4 hours of sleep, I began to seek some liquid energy in my desperation.
I tried tea, energy drinks, 5-hour energy, and almost every method of caffeine consumption you can imagine. I found most of them disgusting and none as effective as I’d like. Finally, I settled on drinking some of my wife’s coffee and including as much or more flavored creamer as coffee. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but I could tolerate it with the obscene amount of creamer. Not exactly a success, but a start at least.
Drinking non-black coffee has a certain stigma among men, much like walking in the rain with an umbrella, or being afraid of spiders/snakes. Despite the apparent reasonableness or downright wisdom of the behaviors above, all seem to imply less than masculine behavior. Naturally then, I desired to scale back the creamer and ramp up the blackness of my coffee. I did the obvious: put a little less creamer in the coffee each week and slowly wean myself off it.
Slowly (I’m talking years) but surely, the goal was achieved: a black cup of coffee enjoyed without grimace. For months, my palate was developing a fondness for the flavor of coffee. It grew not only to expect the flavors but to anticipate the flavors at particular times. Week after week, my taste buds softened to coffee and hardened to sweet creamer alongside it. What I once despised became my craving, and what I once needed to mask the offense became the offense itself. Eventually, I found myself waking up with the desire to start the morning with a cup of black coffee.
Many in our culture have a misconception that we are who we are at birth. If we like this sport or are attracted to this type of person, it’s just who we are. Embrace who you are and be true to yourself. This, of course, is nonsense. Not only can we observe this to be false in our experiences, Scripture tells us that we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). People change by the power of the Holy Spirit every day. People also change in other ways (for the better or for the worse).
An important idea in biblical counseling is the idea that affections, behaviors, and thoughts (or cognition if you like to use the ABC acronym like I do) are all connected. Heart. Hands. Head. All three work together to shape the whole person, and all three have an influence on each other. We make decisions based on how we feel. Those decisions influence the actions we take. Our actions reinforce our likes and dislikes.
It is a false assumption though that we feel, then think, then decide. We often default to this arrangement, but it is misguided. The real process is much more interconnected. Sometimes, we do feel first and act later, perhaps with little thinking in between. Sometimes, we engage in a logical exercise (like a math test) and don’t feel very much at all until after. Other times, we will ourselves to do things because we know we must or because they are the right things to do and and experience our feelings as a consequence.
Never has this relationship between affections, behaviors, and cognition been more important than now. The culture presupposes that our feelings dominate the rest of our being. In reality, our affections can be nudged, shaped, and even extinguished by the decisions we make. They can be trained. Our school’s online “catchphrase” is “Training minds. Shaping hearts.” Contrary to the culture, we know that people can be trained and hearts can be molded like clay.
We aim to influence not just our kids’ thinking or their worldview. This doesn’t go far enough. We want to mold their very hearts to love what is good and godly and beautiful in the world. Will they do this naturally? Of course not! They, just like you and I, are sinners from birth whose hearts pull us toward wickedness. They care about themselves first. But through diligence, practice, and most importantly the work of the Holy Spirit, our children’s hearts can grow to love what they should love.
None of us were born with a love for the Scriptures. We do not have innately sacrificial spirits. Giving away our free time and money to serve others doesn’t come as easy as spending it on our favorite hobbies. The more we read the Bible, however, the more our hearts will crave reading the Bible. The more frequently we serve those who are less fortunate, the more satisfaction and joy we will experience from doing so. Good decisions and godly actions mold godly hearts, even if you don’t feel like doing them in the moment. Not instantly. Not perfectly. But undeniably, behaviors influence affections.
As Pinnacle consistently puts the Word of God in front of her students, the Word of God becomes more appealing to their young hearts. As we disciple them to put others first, to acknowledge the beauty in male/female distinctions, to sit quietly and obediently, those expectations and routines turn into desires. As we sing beautiful and historic hymns, the tunes organically start being hummed around the house. Hearts are being shaped into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Though neither a guaranteed nor quick process, you will likely find that students at Pinnacle end up liking coffee after all.
Duncan Collins
Headmaster
