What Does Your Bucket Look Like?

Drip, drip, drip… that is the sound of water droplets falling from a water spigot into an empty bucket. The first couple of drops don’t seem to be an issue. They may evaporate and begin to rust the bucket, but that’s not a big deal. The bucket is nowhere close to being filled; what is the harm in a few drops that evaporate and leave a little rust behind? There are multiple dangers of drops filling up your bucket and even dangers in the few droplets remaining in the bottom of your bucket.

Attacks from the enemy are often similar to these drops in our bucket, resulting in the overflow of water that began with a single drop. The drop we first ignored—that seemingly undetectable drop. The attacks from the enemy may look different each time. He can bring on a strong attack that is obvious and injurious. As Christians, it is often good to know in what ways the devil likes to attack us, so that we can begin to combat that attack.

In my life, I have found that attacks from the enemy often start as the little droplets that often go unnoticeable at first. The spigot may be turned off, but water is still coming through. I may not notice it at first, but as those drops begin to dry, rust begins to form. When rust forms, it begins to slowly eat away metal, causing wear and tear on the bucket. Holes may begin to form—maybe even cracks. When rust forms, the bucket loses its shine and sparkle.

How do you maintain a rusty bucket?

You clean it. You treat it with something that can remove the rust, the impurities, and the blemishes. Once you have done this, it may not be perfect, some rust still may be visible. Regardless of the slight imperfections, it still is a beautiful and useful bucket. That is what the Gospel is. Once you accept Jesus into your life, once you allow him to wipe away the dirt and grime, you have a new purpose and a new life. (James 4:8) You are constantly working on your bucket, maintaining the broken parts by spending time in the word, spending time in prayer, and telling others about Him. Continually caring and maintaining your heart, constantly coating it with the one thing that can save and nourish it—Jesus.

The world will tell you that trying to “clean your rusty bucket” is absurd, that your bucket is prettier with all of the impurities. While the southern woman in me agrees, the more I think about that analogy, the more I see the faults in it. A rusty bucket may be appealing in a decorated setting by a fireplace or on a shelf with a ribbon and some cute (and fake) plants in it. As more rust begins to gather and eat away the metal, could you really use it for its intended purpose? Probably not. Without proper care, your bucket won’t be able to be used for its intended purposes.

Let’s go back to those droplets that began to fill the bucket. We may not have noticed the first few drops. If we placed our bucket under the spigot and water immediately began to pour out, causing our bucket to quickly overflow, we would take notice of it and rush to turn it off. If we continue to let the spigot (satan) fill our bucket, overtime our bucket will overflow.

Now, I understand that as Christians we often hear “my cup overflows” and deem that as a good thing. It is, but only if what is overflowing the bucket in the first place is good. If we continue to ignore the things of God and listen to the things that the world tells us are “good”, we may end up like that empty bucket sitting on a shelf with a ribbon around it. Our only purpose is to be filled by other people or to have attention drawn to us. Our true purpose is not being fulfilled.

Our true purpose is to be set apart and used for the purpose of spreading the Gospel. We cannot fulfill that purpose if we don’t maintain our hearts and guard our hearts against things, not from the Lord. In James 4:7, James tells us to “submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

I asked the question in the title, “what does your bucket look like?” I think that this should be how we check our hearts daily. If we are having a bad day, a bad 5 minutes, or a bad ten years—what is filling our buckets to make us feel this way? Is our bucket clean, protected, and being filled with things from God? Or, is our bucket rusty and sitting on a shelf, decorated and only being used to only fulfill the purpose of attention being drawn to us, or even just continually overflowing with negativity and slander?