Do you have a dramatic egg story? I do!
One day I wanted a nice, hot, hard boiled egg. Fortunately, I’d boiled and peeled a few eggs the day before and stored them in the fridge. Now, I reasoned, all I needed to do was heat one up. And the quickest way involved the microwave.
I reheated the egg in a small bowl on a low setting. But after removing it, something looked strangely suspicious. The egg was jiggling! Seriously jiggling!
I stared at it for a moment, not sure how to respond, when suddenly the egg exploded! KABLOOEY! In milliseconds egg particles splattered the wall, kitchen cabinet, ceiling, my shirt, face, and hair! (Don’t try this at home, kids!)
Exploded eggs do not clean up easily.
(If nothing else, my adventure can serve as a warning for your future “eggsploits.”)
In Revelation 3:15-16 Jesus says,
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”
Eggs provide the perfect analogy for Jesus’s word picture.
People are like eggs. And Jesus wants His eggs either hot or cold.
“Hot” refers to believers who understand that simply by having faith in what Christ accomplished, they receive God’s free gift of righteousness—based not on their attainment, but solely on their Savior’s atonement. Drawn by God’s grace, they find everything they need to live godly lives. Energized and heated by God’s love, they (like cooked eggs) feed hungry souls—not out of obligation, but simply as a result of supernatural transformation through the Word and the Spirit.
“Cold,” on the other hand, refers to the lost. They haven’t experienced God’s love. But there is always a chance that, tired of their frigid emptiness, they’ll come to desire that life-changing connection. That’s why Jesus hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors, known sinners. He saw their potential and longed to bring them into His family and meet their need for complete forgiveness.
The lukewarm, however, focus on outward appearances rather than inward heart change. They choose rules and religion over a true relationship with God. Jesus dealt with this every time He conversed with the Pharisees. They believed in God, but not the gospel. In their minds the goal was to look righteous.
The lukewarm crowd is neither hot nor cold. Even if giving a nod to grace, they still insist that we maintain our righteousness by holy behavior. It’s a lethal combination of grace and law. Paul argues against this in Galatians 3. And Jesus says lukewarmness makes Him feel sick!
If you leave an egg on the counter overnight, what do you get? Poison!
No one wants to be remembered as a rotten egg. Instead, we want to hear Jesus say, “Well done!” at the end of life’s journey.
And God promises that as we believe in and rely on His grace instead of ourselves, He will transform our lives into something beautiful!
