Just The Shell
JUST THE SHELL
Read 2 Corinthians 5:1-2, 6-8.
David always liked going to the beach with his family. He had been able to get a good-sized collection of shells from their trips. And now, here they were again, he and his father, walking up and down the sandy beach, looking for more shells. Suddenly he stopped and called, “Dad, come here! I found something, but I don’t know what it is.”
Dad soon joined David, who pointed at a strange-looking sea creature. At least that is what David thought it was. Dad knelt down and looked carefully at David’s find. As he did so, David begged him to be careful. He didn’t want his father to be bitten. “This one will never bite,” Dad said. “There’s no life in it.”
“How come?” David asked.
David’s father picked it up. “Because this is just a shell,” he explained, turning it over so David could see what it looked like. “It’s a lobster shell. There comes a time in the lobster’s life when he squeezes out and leaves his shell.”
Before David could ask any more questions, his father asked if he remembered when Grandpa Jones died. “Do you remember how I explained that Grandpa had gone to heaven?” Dad asked.
David nodded. “But I didn’t understand how he could be in the casket and be in heaven, too,” David replied.
“It’s very much like this shell that you just found. The lobster is gone,” Dad said. “This is just his shell. In the same way, when Grandpa died, he left his body and went to live with Jesus because he was a Christian.”
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Do you have a Christian relative or friend who has died recently? If so, that Christian has simply left his body and has gone to be with Jesus. Your body is just the house in which your soul lives.
TO MEMORIZE:
Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:8
YOUR BODY IS YOUR SHELL.
From the book
