I'm wondering today if you're a bucket filler. What's a bucket filler? It's a person who is making positive deposits of kindness and compassion in other people's lives, someone who is adding value to their lives. Or, are you a bucket dipper? Are you someone who through criticism and negativism is making withdrawals from other people's emotional banks, someone who is depleting the value of their lives?
Another way to ask the question is this: Do you have a building mentality or a destructive mentality? That sounds pretty harsh, but our words and our actions have a tremendous influence on the lives around us. And we shouldn't underestimate the influence of the destructive mentality of today's media upon our own lives. Most of what we see and hear is about people who are at odds with one another, who are being destructive toward one another, and it does influence us.
But we are separated from that. We are the church of the living God! We are builders of people and the kingdom of God! We are intended to create with our words. The apostle Paul says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29 NIV).
Do you see that you don't have to go with the world's negative flow? You can swim upstream because God dwells in you! Not only can you build people up with your words, but you can find the best in them and bring it out of them. Your words can be the glue that holds your relationships together when you speak positive, faith-filled words to others. It's easy to see what's wrong with others, but it takes a builder to see what's right and to know how to help fix people. You can make a difference in the lives of the people around you! You are a builder today!
Don't be a bucket dipper. Be a bucket filler!