An Overflowing Bucket

            The waterpark had a variety of ways people could cool off and enjoy the hot summer day.  The pool, the lazy river, the waterslides, and the diving boards were full of kids, teens, and adults enjoying the water.  Another attraction at the waterpark had a splash pad with some large buckets on a pole.  I watched as the buckets would gradually fill with water.  Some kids were standing under the buckets waiting.  When the buckets were completely filled, they tipped over and drenched all the waiting children.  It looked like fun.

            God has called all His children to be filled with the knowledge of His Word.  Paul rejoiced when he wrote to the believers in Rome these words: “Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14).  He was confident that the believers were full of the knowledge of God’s Word.  They had been instructed by faithful teachers who imparted to them a solid biblical foundation for their faith.  Also, Paul’s letter to them contained an overflowing source of knowledge that they would do well to appropriate.  However, containing a full bucket of knowledge was not the extent of their responsibility.  They needed to let that bucket overflow in sharing that knowledge with others, which they were doing. Paul had been told that they were: “able also to admonish one another”.  They not only soaked up the life-giving water of life from God’s Word, they also let it overflow and splash on others.

            This process is something that all of us should be practicing.  We should allow ourselves to be filled with biblical knowledge by studying the Bible, listening to godly teachers and preachers, and soaking up as much of God’s truth from various sources.  But as our bucket gets full, we need to let the water overflow to others.  Find a class to teach, a younger person to mentor, or a fellow believer to disciple.  Don’t be satisfied with having a full bucket of biblical knowledge, let it overflow to others.