An empty egg

Think a minute…This is a true story about a boy named Philip. Philip was 9 years old in a class of 8-year-olds. The kids in his class were mean and unkind to Philip.

They would not talk to him or let him play with them. Philip suffered from a disease called Downs Syndrome, so his face looked a little different and his thinking and talking were slower than the other children’s.

During the week of Easter the teacher gave each child a plastic egg that they could open. Then she sent them outside to find a symbol of new life, such as a seed or leaf, to put inside the plastic egg. 

Sometime later all the children gathered around their basket of eggs and watched as the teacher began to open them.  One child had put a flower inside her egg. All the children thought it was a great symbol of new life. In another egg was a butterfly that all the girls said was beautiful.

Finally, the teacher opened the last plastic egg and there was nothing inside it. One child said, “That’s dumb!” Another kid said, “That’s not fair!” Then the teacher felt someone pulling her hand. It was Philip. He looked up at her and said:  “It’s my egg. I left it empty because Jesus’ grave is empty. That’s why I have new life.”  The whole class was silent. From that day on, Philip was accepted as part of the class. Whatever had made him different was not important or mentioned again.

Just a few months later, Philip died from an infection. On the day of Philip’s funeral his whole class of 8-year-old boys and girls came to say goodbye to their special friend. And each child walked up to Philip’s casket to place beside it their gift:  an empty egg.

Friend, if God the Son can make His love so real and understood to a child like Philip, then none of us has an excuse for not understanding how much Jesus loves us. God humiliated Himself by becoming a human being, not only to die for all our wrongs and forgive us, but then to come back to life to show us that He is God Himself Who wants to give us new life.  So won’t you ask Him today to forgive you and take full charge of your new life?   Just Think a Minute…

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