I Want To Be A “Drop In The Bucket” Christian
I want to be a “drop in the bucket” Christian.
Do you know the origin of the expression “A drop in the bucket?”
It came from the Bible.
For all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. —Isaiah 40.15
It means a very small, or unimportant amount…
And it seems to indicate a status of insignificance and insufficiency.
Small and not enough.
A drop in the bucket.
Ever felt like that?
Like, “Who I am and what I have to offer isn’t enough.”
Can I make a difference?
Does my attempt really even matter?
The “drop in a bucket” expression is found in another place in the Bible…
The Gospel of John describes huge crowds of people following Jesus and listening to Him teach out on the hillside near the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus was concerned that the people needed to eat.
He said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do. —John 6.5, 6
Philip started making calculations. It didn’t take long for him to figure out this would be impossible. They didn’t have enough money. Philip pulls his pockets inside-out to illustrate his message to Jesus: NSF (non-sufficient funds).
Then Andrew steps forward…
Andrew said, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.” —John 6.9
And then Jesus goes to work.
You know the story. We call it “the feeding of the 5,000.”
That little boy’s lunch was offered to Jesus. It was just a drop in the bucket.
Insignificant and insufficient.
But in the hands of Jesus it became so much more.
It was incredibly significant. Everyone ate. In fact, the Bible says they ate until they were “full.”
And it was more than sufficient. Twelve baskets of leftovers were collected.
What was small and not enough becomes big and more than enough when put in the hands of Jesus.
Let’s get back to those feelings of personal insignificance and insufficiency…
Like “who I am and what I have to offer isn’t enough.”
Can I really make a difference?
Does my attempt even matter?
Yes. Yes. Yes!
Because the small and not enough becomes big and more than enough in the hands of Jesus. We don’t do the heavy lifting. Jesus does. He isn’t asking for us to save the world and carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. He does that. He is The Hero.
He’s simply wanting to stretch our faith and get us to be willing to offer up our “drop in the bucket.” I find this to be both liberating and humbling all at the same time.
It’s liberating to know that I don’t have to do the heavy lifting. The pressure is off. I’m free to be small and insignificant. It’s a relief to know that I don’t have to change the world. I just have to be willing to offer my “drop in the bucket.”
And it’s humbling too. Being a “drop in the bucket” is not applauded. The boy in the story who gave his lunch to Jesus didn’t even get his name printed. He didn’t get to take credit. Sure, he offered up his “drop in the bucket” lunch, but he didn’t perform a miracle that day.
I think we need this liberating, humbling experience…
To offer who we are and what we have.
To give our small, insignificant, weak, and insufficient whatever (talent, ability, resources, testimony, experience, finances, etc.) for Jesus to use.
I want to be a “drop in the bucket” Christian.
I am a husband, father, pastor, leader & reader. I love God, love people & love life.
This is an amazing truth. I totally relate to the feeling of “not doing enough”. I wish I could get credit for every good intention I had, or find a way to battle the guilty feelings that I’m not doing all that I could/should/want to for my family, husband, daughter, church, neighbors, school, world…. When I see that on FB on any given day there may be 5 birthdays of people I wish I could pause and wish a happy birthday to, send a card- but goodness, there’s just not enough time in a day. So I learn from your example, Brian to chill, do what can be done, and leave the rest. You are a grounding force for me and I’m so thankful for you.
Wow. I don’t know if I can put what I’m feeling into words right now. It’s like you wrote this just for me. The entire message spoke to me as I read it.
I saw a poster once that read, “Do for one what you wish you could do for all.” It got me to thinking… Up until that time I had been pretty much one of those people that think, “I can’t help them all. Why even try?” But guess what? When I do that… When I do for one what I wish I could do for all… It matters. It really matters. To that one person… I might have just made their day. I may have just made their week… We don’t know what a small act of kindness can mean to somebody.
Offering up that ‘drop in the bucket’ can change someone’s world. I want to do that… Change somebody’s life. I want to help fill their bucket… one drop at a time.
This is why I love NWLife Church. The 5 is all about One Drop At A Time. We share what we can… One meal a week isn’t much… A drop in the bucket compared to the other 20 meals in a week. But we do it. Why? Because that drop might be the only meal somebody gets that day. It matters. A small bag of groceries isn’t much to send them home with. But in that bag full of drops are the components that will help fill out those other 20 meals in a week.
I want to make a difference. I want to help change somebody’s life for the better. I want to be a drop in the bucket christian too!
I love this Erin. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve been thinking about this post all day, PB. I can’t get it out of my head. And here’s a question for you… Have you ever Intended to say something and then gone off in a different direction and completely missed where you wanted to go in the first place? No? Me neither!
Part of what I wanted to say in my prior comments was this: “What if? What if we could get everyone at church to believe that their “meaningless, insignificant, not quite enough drop in the bucket” really could mean something when combined with my drop in the bucket?” And your drop in the bucket. And the person sitting next to you… they added their drop in the bucket?
Imagine that we all had an epiphany at the same time… “I can’t give a hundred bucks, but I can give fifty.” Or I can’t give twenty bucks, but I can give ten. Or your budget is so tight that you can’t give five bucks… but you can give one dollar.
Together we could make the 5 so much more than it is now. We could give better meals… more groceries. We could have a better food pantry for everyday requests.
I pray that we all become Drop In The Bucket Christians. Because what we give matters. No matter how big or small that drop is… It matters.
Well, I don’t agree with half of the stuff I say… so, yeah, I do intend to say one thing & then go off in an entirely different direction. Ha! I say all kinds of crap.
Yes—what you’re saying here is exactly right. Let’s pray everyone gets it, everyone has an epiphany at the same time. All of our “drop in the bucket” together is what really becomes significant. I’m with you Erin. Thanks for being with me.