The Egg Toss

Illustration: “The Egg Toss”

During the waning days of World War II, thousands of Russian troops poured into the city of Berlin. Many of them were simple country bumpkins who had never been in a city before. They were amazed and confused by what they saw. Some soldiers unscrewed light bulbs and carefully packed them away to take home, believing they contained light and could be made to work anywhere.

One group of Russian soldiers burst into a Berlin chemical lab. Ransacking the offices and laboratories, they came upon a dozen eggs sealed in an airtight container, with bright red German words imprinted on them.

Like kids at a picnic, the soldiers put down their weapons, pulled off their heavy overcoats, and began playing an old-fashioned game of egg toss. Just then a lab scientist stumbled upon the scene. Horrified, he started shouting at the soldiers. But since the Russians could not understand German, they ignored him and continued their game.

Finally the scientist found a Russian colonel who could translate. The colonel ordered the soldiers to carefully replace the eggs in their containers and get out of the building, which was then locked up tight.

What the soldiers didn’t realize was that the eggs they were playing with so nonchalantly contained the deadly typhus virus. If even one of those eggs had been dropped or broken, the soldiers would have certainly all died and started a horrible epidemic that could have killed who knows how many thousands of people.

Many people today play around with sin as if it were some kind of game. And though it may look harmless—even innocent to them, they are, in fact, playing with death.

That is why God warns us about giving Satan any kind of foothold in our lives.