Imagine if you could sit down at a coffee shop, order coffee for two, and then Jesus walks through the door.

He sees you and smiles. You get up to greet Him and then the two of you settle down at your shared table. Imagine having coffee with Jesus to discuss your dream of becoming a young CEO.

Prayer made practical

When people tell you to pray, encourage you to spend time in the Word, or give you faith-filled advice, it can feel so different from the image above. There’s so much task-related religious ‘stuff’ we need to accomplish that it’s easy to disconnect from the person of Jesus. 

This article is an imaginative exploration of what it might be like for an aspiring young CEO to have coffee with Jesus. It’s fictional, but draws on Jesus’ teachings in the Bible to share valuable truths. Every statement of Jesus given in this article is adapted from Matthew 6.

So, without further ado, let’s return to the image of the coffee shop…

Jesus’ wisdom on Finances

God knows what you need

You nervously eye the menu, wondering what this coffee date will end up costing you. It’s the end of the month and you’re not feeling confident about what remains in your bank account. Jesus notices you frowning and then He simply says: “Look at the birds.”

You’re confused. Is it a metaphor? Scanning the room, unsure of what He meant, your eyes finally land on a group of pigeons outside the cafe. Their grey feathers seem very soft as they cozy up on a windowsill to get away from the pouring rain.

Jesus continues: “The birds do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Think about it this way: Can you add a single hour to your life by worrying?”

You slowly nod your head. Trust Jesus to turn coffee into a teachable moment! But He was not wrong. You’ve been worrying so much, mulling over the numbers in your head, as if that would make any difference.

Suddenly you feel a little bit jealous of the birds out there on the windowsill. He’s right. They do not worry about where their next meal is going to come from. They don’t have to make ends meet, pay rent, buy clothes, or cover tuition. They can just be. 

Apparently reading your thoughts, Jesus takes this moment to say: “You do not have to worry so much, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Your heavenly Father knows what you need.”

You have to choose: God or Money

You take a sip of your coffee, comforted by the idea that God can provide your every need. Then you tell Jesus how it’s going with your business idea. He knows about it from an earlier conversation where He encouraged you to pursue something creative.

Yet without noticing, your conversation turns from dreaming to worrying again. Before you know it, you’ve pulled up the spreadsheet on your phone and you’re showing Him the numbers.

Jesus becomes quiet - not disengaged, just still. Eventually you look at Him and see there’s a single tear running down His cheek. Apologizing in case you said the wrong thing, you shift in your seat awkwardly. What could you have said to make His heart so sad?

He smiles through the tears, looks at you for a long time and then He says quietly: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Yikes. You blush. How come He’s able to be so direct, yet still so loving at the same time? It stings. Is He saying that it seems like you love money more than God, ‘cause that is not the case… You begin to explain and Jesus says: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” He’s looking at the birds again and you follow His gaze.

Giving to the needy

A man bumps into your table suddenly. He’s clearly unhoused and you look around, wondering why the manager let him into the coffee shop. Jesus’ smile is still on his face. He touches the man on his elbow and says hello.

The poor man looks my way and mutters that he’s hungry and thirsty, don’t I have anything I can give him? Feeling Jesus’ eyes on me and not wanting to disappoint Him, I give the man one of the croissants. He takes it with greedy hands, whispers something under his breath about not really eating gluten, and then he leaves the shop. You look at Jesus, kind of wanting recognition or an award for what you just did. Those croissants are super expensive and -

“When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Jesus winks at you, knowing how much you like rewards… 

Let God take care of you

Your scheduled half an hour with Jesus is almost up and you let Him know that it’s time for your meeting to end. Hesitantly, He slowly gets up from the table, still smiling at you with love in His eyes. Then He walks out the door onto the street where the pigeons are still sitting pretty. 

You spend another hour in the cafe, working on your laptop, on that spreadsheet, and on some new ideas. Time flies by and you are hardly aware of what’s going on around you. Worried thoughts threaten to swallow you whole once more.

Thinking it’s time to almost head home, you ask the waiter for the bill. But to your surprise, they say it’s already been taken care of. Then you realize that Jesus paid it all before He left. He really did take care of your every need.