That egg is struggling! The inside might still taste good, but the outside doesn’t look very strong at all. It’s good for an egg to be strong on the outside to protect what matters most on the inside.
That’s often true for us as well. Instead of letting every little comment or bump in the road mess us up, we can trust God to protect us as we develop a “thicker skin.” But we never want to get hard on the inside and stop caring about people.
Jesus is the perfect example.
Isaiah 53:7 says this, looking ahead to Jesus: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
Jesus didn’t say a word during most of His trial and crucifixion. He knew that no one could stop His eternal purpose, His compassionate loving mission to offer salvation to all. We don’t always have to defend ourselves either because other people can’t touch us, the real us. They can’t stop our purpose either…unless we let them.
We can keep doing right and keep caring no matter how much wrong we’re surrounded by.
As we follow our Savior’s example, we can be thick-skinned and soft-hearted in all the right ways.