Bucket Religion

With a bucket you can fill it with something, carry it around, and then when you want you dump it. Buckets are good for that sort of thing. But that kind of operation with the bucket may not work well with certain parts of our lives. As with the bucket we are always filling our lives with something. We fill our minds every day with an enormous variety of life experiences and data. We fill our bodies as well. We make choices about what we place in our buckets.

Buckets don't work well with areas of what some call religion. I prefer to call this my faith rather than religion. The Bucket Religion experience plays out like this. John begins his day bucket in hand. Immediately he begins filling his bucket; harsh word to his wife, yells at his children, displays anger toward his co workers, uses his position to take money that's not his, views a nasty video on his computer while in his office, and for most of the day he continues to fill his bucket with sin. As he lays down in his bed that night guilt consumes him and he prays, “Lord please forgive me for the things I've done today.” John empties his bucket by praying a quick little prayer thinking that this makes his life good with God. But the next day John fills his bucket with the same things as the day before.

Mary has a bucket, a big bucket. She begins the day doing everything she can think of to please God. She tries not to sin, and she works hard to do one good thing after another trying to fill her big old bucket so that God will love her more and more. It seems to her that no matter how many good things she places in her bucket she just can't fill it up. She becomes frustrated, and spiritually worn out. Mary is not happy. She is not feeling the joy in her life, nor does she know the love of God like she thinks she should.

John and Mary need to understand what needs to go in their buckets. Faith is what they should carry in their buckets. Faith in Jesus Christ to save them, and FILL them with the Holy Spirit. John's life will be changed, and he will no longer carry the guilt of those terrible sins. His prayer at night will be one of thanksgiving and praise. Mary will understand that God loves her just as she is. His Holy Spirit will show her the things she should do for the glory of God. The neat thing about John's and Mary’s buckets is that they are now receiving from God his power, his strength, his love and his guidance. Too many people, even Christians, are operating under the heavy burden of Bucket Religion. Complete Faith in the work of Jesus'  in us through the filling of his Spirit beats Bucket Religion every time.