The Latte Factor

During the second week of November, Starbucks switches from its ubiquitous white cups and ushers in the Christmas season with festive red cups. Our family is weird enough that we talk about this day before it comes, and then we usually toast it after it arrives. Just this year, as I poured a little cinnamon into my chai tea, I got a text message on my phone: “The Christmas cups are here!”

I smiled and typed back, “I know. I’m holding one.”

Graham replied, “They make me happy.”

You can’t read my books without coming across Starbucks references. Once, while I was traveling, the conscientious couple chauffeuring me noticed the Starbucks cup in my hand. The woman said, “Have you ever thought of giving up Starbucks and giving the money to missions?” Now, the car they drove exceeded the cost of my Ford Focus by at least $20,000. I could have said, “Have you ever thought of trading in your vehicle for a Ford and giving the money to missions?” But of course, I didn’t.

Financial planners love to use the “latte factor” to show how a daily cup of luxury coffee can decimate retirement planning. And I do think we should be willing to part with any luxury to sacrificially support the advancement of God’s kingdom here on earth.

Even so, consider an intriguing, albeit counterintuitive bit of wisdom from the book of Ecclesiastes: “Do not be over righteous, neither be otherwise – why destroy yourself? … The man who fears God will avoid all extremes” (7:16,18).

An extreme fussiness can wear us out. Worse, it can set us up for failure after we run ourselves into the ground and, weakened by exhaustion, collapse into a foolish act of sin. Here’s what I have found: Too little pleasure can lead us into the same place that Christians fear too much pleasure will take us. The road may be different, but the destination is the same.

Pure Pleasure, 168-69

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