Wasted Resources
April 25, 2024
The Burning Bucket
May 21, 2018
Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. - ROMANS 5:1-5
Tough times lead to steel-like character. A steel mill will have a hot metal ladle, a huge bucket, the size of a truck, containing the seething ingredients of steel. The thing resembles a burning bucket. It pours its fiery contents into a furnace. Our hearts are designed to be “burning buckets” into which God’s passionate love has been poured!
What makes tribulation lead to the perseverance that produces stainless steel character? It’s the Holy Spirit pouring the love of God into the heat and fury of suffering. It takes a blistering environment to make steel, and that’s what it takes to produce unbendable character.
Why do people journey to far-away places to help needy people, and tend AIDS patients, spend hours preparing a Bible lesson, go into prisons, hospitals, mortuaries, places struck by natural disasters and wars? It’s because in the heart-cauldron of their own pain, God poured out His profound love, and they received it. The end of their travail was neither denial nor bitterness but a character formed by God inside the burning bucket.
TODAY’S FOCUS
Are you presently passing through trials? Ask God to use the testing to produce steel-like character in you. Open your heart to receive His love.
