EGGCEPTIONALLY WICKED

THE SCENARIO: We were grocery shopping the other day and standing in front of the refrigerated section where carton upon carton of eggs were stacked. An apparently middle-aged woman next to us reached for a carton of eggs at sort of an awkward angle and knocked an adjacent carton out of its place, and it hit the bottom grill upon which the cartons were resting with quite a glorious thud (it fell from a height of about 1 meter; the top remained closed in transit, and it landed sort of flat on its top). 'Those eggs are busted for sure,' we thought; accidents do happen... What happened next was not an accident though, and it was a bit startling, but perhaps shouldn't have been startling, given the condition of the human heart. The lady grabbed the carton she knocked off and, without looking inside, and cool as a cucumber, put it neatly back in its place. Then she grabbed a carton next to that one, opened it up to make sure that none of the eggs were damaged, and, satisfied that all was well, pranced off content as a lark it seemed. The egg whites and yolks were not as yet running out of the knocked down carton. We opened it, and, sure enough, the majority of the eggs were crushed, so we put it top-open on the floor adjacent to the good cartons so that no one would inadvertently buy those busted eggs, and so that the stock personnel could see it.

In the outworking of this scenario please consider the following:

1. This scenario centers on behavior after an accident or mistake. We are looking at this lady's actions in the face of an accident specifically (it was clearly an accident). Oftentimes we find ourselves in a pinch like that—something quite out of our control puts us in a “tight spot,” but right there, where the heat is, so to speak, is oftentimes where we can make the biggest difference for Jesus Christ, for the examples set in those instances speak volumes typically. May our Lord bless us with the wherewithal to do well for Him in those tough spots. How can one prepare themselves (especially spiritually) for the tough spots, so as to have a sort of knee-jerk Christ-like reaction when these type of scenarios unexpectedly and often quite instantly push us into a tight spot.

2. Consider Joseph's putting the money into his brothers' sacks and the tough spot the brothers found themselves in, especially consider how Jacob thought to handle a possible mistake (Gen 43:12). Consider Gen 43:12 in light of this lady's accident.

3. Our Lord through Jeremiah said:

'...the heart is desperately sick, who can understand it' (Jer 17:9 ; cf. Jesus: Mat 15:17-19)?

These verses came to mind as this scenario unfolded before us. We thought there was a desperate selfishness at play here and a sort of cold indifference, and it showed well the condition of the human heart—the clincher in this regard for us was that she found time to check the carton that she bought for herself and seemingly could have cared less about the condition of the eggs in the carton she knocked down (she did not appear to be either blind or deaf). That she could have cared less it seems that someone else, maybe in a hurry, might have grabbed that damaged carton and bought it. Again, she had no concern to take a moment to bring to the attention of the management or stock personnel what she did, and at least offer an “I'm sorry about that,” or at best offer to pay for the eggs she damaged. Would you agree that this scenario brings out some of the worst in the human heart or are we being overly critical? Can you find Scripture that clearly identifies the sin/s at work in this scenario? Or maybe the better question to consider first is do you think that God saw sin at work here?

4. We can't be sure of course, but presumably this was not a (true) Christian lady, for her actions would seem to indicate otherwise. If this had been a (professing, at least) Christian person, consider the damage that their handling of this accident would have brought on our Lord's cause in the world; to His cause at work in their family; among their circle of friends and work mates had they witnessed it.

5. We were struck by her seeming cold indifference; we can't be sure, but suppose we are right about this, how does indifference like that “find one out” in the long haul, with respect to secular relationships, and particularly with respect to one's walk before God. Again, we are presuming she was not a (true) Christian, so for the walk before God part we would like especially to consider the difficulty that God would be be faced with in trying to reach her for her salvation; for her blessed fellowship with Him.

6. We have often thought that this high-tech modern world we live in has to some degree desensitized us toward the things of God; toward the things He treasures and delights in (starting with the industrial revolution in the late 1800s and the ensuing explosion of knowledge and its applications which fueled that revolution). We have come to call it the age of the “reboot/reset button mentality.” This is a very simplistic notion, but in some ways it seems to fit post-industrial human ways of thinking and operating—particularly with respect to God. We thought we saw this “reset mentality” at play in the Egg Lady in that when the “program (eggs) crashed,” she just “reset” and happily went on her way without digging deeper so to speak. Do you think that technology can desensitize a people to the things of God; that is, the benefits of technology become god instead, as also the inanimate coldness of it deadens spirituality after so long?

7. Another point came to the fore in the days hence—the tremendous material blessings that our Lord has bestowed on us in this day and age, in all areas of human need—from basic necessities like food here, to improved transportation, medicine, communications, you name it (we realize that there are parts of the world where there is great need in this respect; our comment is a generalization). This scenario caused us to reflect on that bounty. We wondered how this bounty has changed our appreciation of the morsels on our plate. More specifically, please consider here your own valuation of the blessings God has bestowed upon you. An appropriate point to consider might be your degree of grateful stewardship of His bounty and of His earth per se. Consider also please stewardship of these from the vantage point of a Christian who has the responsibility to model such stewardship to folk who are watching.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE LEGEND

TOP