Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” —John 11:25-26
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” This expression is used to indicate the importance of not putting all of your resources into one endeavor. The suggestion in this age-old quote is that if you focus and dedicate everything to one thing, if something were to go awry, you would risk losing it all. It’s often used when investing in the stock market—which makes perfect sense.
A dear friend of mine, we’ll call her Marina, has one child—a son. She and her husband are content with one child and they have a delightful family life. Her sister however, has several children and doesn’t understand Marina’s attitude. She once approached her with a very direct question, “Aren’t you afraid of putting all your eggs in one basket? What if something bad should happen to your son?” This query came as such a shock, that my friend was momentarily flabbergasted.
Although its great the Marina’s sister has many children, I hope that it is not to spread out her chances of things “turning out” like when hedging a bet. This is life on the big marble—things often don’t turn out as we expect, things often go wrong; sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. We cannot lose sight of the fact that we are often NOT in control. But God is.
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” —Matthew 6:33
Some people feel the same way about their religious faith as Marina’s sister does with spreading out her chances of things “turning out”; they feel a need to cover all their bases by seeking “many paths” to God in case the “path” they are following might not be the right one. This includes putting all of their faith in Jesus. Their faith wavers when in comes to being committed—they lack trust and confidence. Sadly, you will never experience a life of happiness, contentment, or fulfillment unless you put all of your eggs into one basket—God’s basket. God’s basket is a life that is surrendered to Him, with a desire to please Him in all of your thoughts, words, and deeds.
For God so loved the world, He gave His ONLY Son. He modeled this for us with the very act of “putting all of His eggs in One basket.” The salvation of humanity depended on His One sacrifice—Jesus, His only Son. Jesus didn’t waver either—He was all in; He trusted His Father.
Easter eggs: Although eggs were an ancient symbol of fertility and rebirth in Christianity, we continue to use eggs for our modern celebration of Easter—even though this symbol has been secularized to go along with the Easter Bunny and baskets filled with candy and toys. Still, Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus from which He was resurrected. In addition, there’s an ancient tradition (which some churches use today) of staining Easter eggs with the color red in memory of the blood of Christ shed as at that time of His crucifixion. And finally, the whole roasted egg in the Seder ritual is used to represent sacrifice. Sacrifice not only means death; it also means life.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” —Proverbs 3:5
So many people just dabble in the things of God, and never become fully engaged in a life that is committed to truly serving Him and making a difference in the lives of others. People who fail to put all of their “eggs” into God’s basket tend to want just enough of God and church to satisfy their immediate needs or conscience, but devote much of their other “eggs” or in other words, their time, talents, thoughts, and efforts into other baskets.
It is almost as if these people don’t have faith to completely place their trust (their hopes and dreams) into the hands of God, so they always feel the need to keep a back-up plan. They cover their bases with other religions—just in case… Their other baskets can also include their career, their hobbies, their money, or their possessions. Anything that becomes a priority in your life over living a life that pleases and honors God could be considered another basket.
Here’s a new twist on the old eggs in a basket saying, “Put all of your eggs in God’s basket and count your blessings before they hatch.”When Martha was at the empty tomb on that first Easter Sunday Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” —John11:25-26 Believe it! Jesus is our One basket.
If we trust the Easter promise of life eternal, and if we completely surrender our goals, purpose, and lifestyle to the things that God wants for us, everything else will take care of itself. Anything in life that you merely dabble in will always result in mediocrity. Likewise, in order for you to live the life that God wants for you to live, and to experience the blessings that He has for you, you can’t dabble. You can’t spread out all of your eggs into several baskets. You have to place all of your eggs in the ONE basket.
When you get to the place in life where you are willing to place all of your eggs into God’s basket, you will have the peace from God that passes all understanding. Put all of your eggs in God’s basket—Jesus. When you do, your life will never be the same.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
Happy Easter