An Acquired Taste: 3 Tips for Aligning your Heart with Christ

I love coffee. And, when I say that, I mean that I love real coffee – black with no sugar, no cream, no flavor. I love pure, unadulterated coffee.

Honestly, I’m kind of a coffee snob. My wife and I were born and raised in Northwest Arkansas – the home of the world’s best coffee. We’ve lived in Pittsburgh for over three years now and, to this day, we still order our coffee from Onyx Coffee in Arkansas. It’s kind of pricey, but it’s worth it.

The thing is, I haven’t always loved coffee. I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was in high school. And, even then, it was loaded with sweetener and milk. It all began when I started going to a local coffee shop with my uncle in high school. At the time, he was helping me train in the gym, so we would go for an early morning workout followed by some coffee and a quick visit to start the day. 

My uncle was my best friend. Even though I didn’t really like coffee, I wanted to be with him and to be like him. So, I made the best of it, and a new love began. Over time, I started using less and less additives and found that I eventually started craving regular, black coffee. Nothing else will do.

People are often surprised that I like black coffee. I’ve come to see that black coffee, like many other things in life, has an acquired taste. 

Scientists have shown that we are born with an innate preference for sweet foods and have an aversion to bitter foods, extreme heat, and pungent odors. An acquired taste develops when the brain learns that these initially unpleasant inputs are safe, eventually associating them with a biochemical reward.

Coffee isn’t the healthiest example with all its caffeine, but I’ve come to see that some of the most beneficial habits in my life possess an acquired taste. Drinking enough water, regular reading, and daily exercise all come to mind. None of these habits came naturally, and yet, over time, and with some commitment, I now crave to have all of them as a part of my regular routine. I don’t want to live without them.

It might surprise you to hear that faith, life with Jesus, could also be seen as an acquired taste. I remember when I started to take my faith more seriously in college. I naively believed that, if I really loved Jesus, spending time with him (reading the bible, praying, participating in the church, etc.) would come easily and would always be enjoyable.

This was not the case. There were days when I didn’t feel like reading the Bible. Some days, when I did read, I didn’t understand how what I was reading was relevant to my life today. I didn’t always know how to pray or what to pray for. Serving in the church wasn’t always rewarding. Thinking that it was supposed to be easy made me feel guilty and ashamed. I didn’t know what to do.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” - Psalm 34:8

If you’ve felt this way, it’s important to know that the Lord is a bit of an acquired taste. Just like we are physically born with an innate preference for sweet food and an aversion to others, we are similarly born with a spiritual preference for sin and an aversion to the things of God. Certainly, when you come to Christ, God creates in you a new heart with new desires, but that doesn’t mean that everything comes easy. Like black coffee, craving comes over time. With that in mind, here are three tips for acquiring a taste for Christ.

1. Conviction

Acquiring a taste for Jesus starts with a conviction that he is your highest good.

As I said earlier, I grew up in Arkansas – the South. From as early as I can remember, I drank sweet tea from morning until evening. Tea so sweet that it could have been syrup. Something happens around college where you begin to feel the effects of your poor diet.  For me, I slowly started to see that I was really dehydrated.

Around that time, I made a commitment to drink more water. I didn’t enjoy it at first. I thought it was tasteless, and I couldn’t really tell that it was making that much of a difference. But I knew it was the healthiest option. So I kept drinking. Now, not only does water taste amazing, but I can tell a huge difference on days that I don’t drink as much. All because I believed it was in my best interest long-term.

The same goes for life with Jesus. If you’re at a place in life where you recognize your need for more of Jesus, it starts with being convinced that he is your highest and most eternal good.

2. Consistency

When I first started drinking coffee, there were days when I probably would have preferred to drink something else. But that’s what my uncle ordered; he was paying for it, and it was the cheapest drink on the menu. So, I kept drinking. I drank it every day until finally, I had to have it even on days that I wasn’t with my uncle.

I’ve heard that it takes at least 15 tries for your brain to override its natural aversion signals to bitter foods. What a shame it would have been if I had moved on from coffee after the first week!

To be honest, some of what Jesus says is hard to swallow. His teaching can be offensive. We’re far removed from the original context, and some of the teaching can get lost in translation. But the more you show up, the deeper you go, and the more gold you discover. Consistency is key to intimacy.

3. Contentment

In his first letter to his young protege, Paul tells Timothy, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”  His point is that one of our greatest obstacles to growth in Christ is this feeling that we should be farther along than we appear to be. Whether financially, in our maturity, or our status in life, when we feel behind, we rush, we cut corners, and we miss out on essential character development.

Going back to my first experience with coffee, I started with a large amount of sweetener. There were a lot of older men in that coffee shop who were already drinking black coffee. I didn’t know any better, to be ashamed of how much I doctored my drink. So I didn’t care about anyone’s judgment. It didn’t phase me. I was just excited that I was drinking coffee at all. I kept drinking until I didn’t need it.

It’s good to be reminded that, in our walk with Christ, there isn’t a deadline for getting everything right. When we remember how much he has done for us and then remind ourselves of what he’s promised to do, we can enjoy where we’re at in this season and make progress at our own pace. Enjoy the journey.  Keep drinking. Taste and see that the Lord is good!