A few weeks ago, I (along with a group of other ladies from our church) attended a Women’s Conference down at First Baptist Church of Surfside. We were very blessed by the hospitality shown to us by the ladies there, as well as by the pastor and deacons, who prepared and served dinner for us on that Friday evening. We met some wonderful new friends, and just had a great time of fellowship, which was the icing on the cake to this wonderful conference.
A very special blessing for us, though, was the speaker (Margaret Kay Tucker) who came all the way from Jacksonville , FL to be with us. We’ve known her for a number of years now, from the annual Pastor’s Conference in Jacksonville . Several of us have taken her seminars there, and have thoroughly enjoyed the “nuggets” she’s taught us in her classes.
But anyway, one of the things that makes Margaret such a dynamic speaker (besides the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in her, of course) is her ability to utilize ordinary, everyday things and make them into an object lesson for those who attend her sessions. We tend to remember those object lessons… the visuals that are used to teach us something spiritually. It reminds me of my childhood, and how our Children’s Church pastor taught in the same way. Through the years, I’ve forgotten all the many sermons I, as a child, heard in “big church”. But I’ve never forgotten those object lessons Preacher Red taught us. Anytime I see an object he once used to teach us with, I immediately remember the lesson from all those years ago. I believe the same is true of Margaret’s teaching.
One such lesson she used in this conference is perfect for sharing at this time of year, when eggs are already on many folks’ minds… in preparing Easter eggs, Easter baskets, etc. Although this particular lesson doesn’t hold an Easter message, it’s one that we could all do well to remember… and to examine our own spiritual walk by.
First of all, Margaret presented to us three eggs. They all looked the same, identical to the beholder. She held the first one up, but we could see no distinguishing markings or anything… nothing that would make it seem any different from the other two. But then she made a fist and the egg crumbled in her hand. It was empty inside. She went on to tell how a lot of “church-going folks” are like this egg. They do their best to make it to church… sometimes… like maybe at Easter or Christmas… maybe even on Mother’s Day… gotta make Mom happy on her special day, you know. They seem like really “good folks”. They don’t commit murder, nor rob banks. They do the soccer-mom thing, attend the PTA meetings at school, have neighborhood cookouts, etc. But despite all the things they fill their lives with, something’s still missing. Something’s missing on the inside. Their lives… their hearts… aren’t filled with JESUS.
Then Margaret holds up the second egg. Again, it looks no different than any other egg… no special markings or anything to make it stand out. It fits right in with all the others. But when Margaret taps it on the side of a bowl, the insides run out. It’s raw. She tells us how this, too, is like some church-goers… even church MEMBERS. There IS something on the inside (unlike the first egg), but it hasn’t fully developed… it hasn’t grown at all. It’s still very unsettled in many ways, without allowing the Holy Spirit to work in it and to bring about a transformation there.
Lastly, she holds up the final egg. And once again, it very much resembles the previous two. From looking at them all together, you couldn’t have distinguished them apart. “But this egg IS different”, she tells us, as she taps it against the back of the pew in front of her. Thankfully, its insides didn’t gush out all over the place. There was no mess to clean up, because this egg was hard-boiled. She tells us many church members, and many of us attending this conference, were like this egg. We’ve allowed Jesus to come into our hearts and to work on us, on the inside, bringing about this wonderful change in us. We’ve grown, spiritually, and it shows; especially when the things in life come against us. We’re solid now, so we don’t crumble with pressure. Nor are our insides oozy, because we didn’t allow the Lord to grow us from within.
After these brief illustrations, Margaret challenged us to ask ourselves the following two questions:
1. Which egg am I?2. Which do I desire to be?
I don’t know about anyone else, but I can say for myself that I definitely want to be that third egg. I want to be solid in my walk with the Lord. I want to continuously feed upon and grow in His Word, never returning to the state I was before He came into my heart. I want Him to use me and to strengthen me, so that I may face whatever may come against me. I desire to be different… to be set apart from “the world”. I want to live my life for Him, not for myself, nor for any other.
How about you? Which egg are you right now? Which egg do you want to be?
It’s never too late to make a change… for with God, all things are possible.
I pray that as challenging as this little object lesson was to each of us, it will be equally so for you. Whenever you see an egg, ask yourself which kind of egg you’re being today.
God bless you!
Leave a reply by clicking the "comments" link below. Thanks!
