Some Jesus Things: A Wooden Bucket

A Wooden Bucket

Now, don’t think that I have fallen off of my rocker; but, I was bellyaching to the Lord that I “needed” an old wooden bucket. My whiny prayers were for a wood bucket befitting my beautiful roses.

Properly cared for roses require a lot of deadheading and pruning to keep them healthy and productive. All of this foliage must be kept separate from all other compost since roses are susceptible to a myriad of diseases.

I had been collecting all of these cuttings into a small used black plastic plant container, weighted down with a rock in the bottom to keep it from blowing over or away. I would then empty these each time I threw out the household trash.

I was bellyaching in prayer that I “needed” a bucket, when in reality, I “wanted” an old wooden bucket to pair up with my beautiful tea roses.

I went so far as to tell everyone around me to, keep an eye out for my bucket. OK, so maybe I hadn’t fallen off my rocker yet; but, I will admit to nearly tipping it over.

Anyway, in the middle of this epic self induced bucket trauma, the Lord revealed to me that I already had exactly what I wanted. I had everything that I needed (including the talent) that God had already supplied to build the perfect wooden bucket.

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

So guess what? Yes! That’s right, I built a bucket. Not just a wood bucket, but a new/old bucket. All of the materials came from their own incredible, God orchestrated journeys. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

The staves are cut from the pickets of a ‘very old’ cedar fence. The bottom was cut on a friends saw mill and re-purposed out of a wind fell pine tree, whose Christmas lights stayed up all year. The tree was too big to put the lights up and take down each year. The metal bands were trash from a pallet at the lumber yard. And finally, I had held on to and carted the manila rope around for years, which became the handles.

The talent was God given and honed for years to cooper the perfect wooden bucket. The best thing is that it came out exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or think of! Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, (Ephesians 3:20)

When one stops to think: It is amazing how God can take a bunch of trash and put it all together to make a beautiful vessel. This is what He can do with our lives too. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21)

Through salvation believers receive Jesus as the living water. The wooden bucket is the vessel that symbolizes our bodies. We are filled and equipped to share Jesus’ living water with others. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38)

The Lie

When you are truly saved you can not loose your salvation! (John 10:29) (John 10:29)

Satan’s perversions teach that you can loose your salvation or somehow become unworthy of the Love of Jesus. This is the enemies way of pouring the living water out of your bucket. A dry bucket shrinks and becomes a leaky bucket. Satan wants to waste your water. He will even turn up the heat to quickly evaporate your joy.

Satan’s theology tries to put holes in your salvation bucket. Lucifer will tell you lies that will not hold water. Do not be swayed. The enemy will mix a little truth in with a lie. He will fill your wooden bucket with sweet and sour fruit, hoping you will not taste the truth. These lies; like the fruit, can be separated out of your bucket and the truth will become known.

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)

Good News

Now, the Good News! When you pour two kinds of water into a bucket, like water from a well or creek you can not separate the water. The water has become one. This is how it is with Jesus. Believers become one in the body of Christ.

so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. (Romans 12:5)

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

False Doctrine

Beware!! There are many mixed doctrines and theologies out there. They are all trying to sell you a bucket so full of holes it can’t even hold the lies placed in them.

These teachings leave believers constantly searching for the next seminar or retreat to energize them so they can refill their bucket.

People running around with holy holes in their buckets trying to keep them full.

What’s worse is the same people working so hard at keeping their bucket full, are trying to sell others the same bill of goods that put another hole in their own bucket! Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:16)

Feeding the Body

A final word of advice to my family of true believers: Do not forget; remember to stay near to Jesus in quiet time and prayer.

As a productive member in the body of Christ, you give of yourself to others. When several in the body require the water drawn from your bucket, we tend to sometimes give more than we realize and become thirsty ourselves.