A Vase Or A Bucket?

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

There is something very beautiful about the prophet Isaiah’s immediate response to God.  His willingness to be used by God is a reflection of his heart and love for His LORD.   I was reading a book by Charles Stanley entitled, “The Blessings of Brokenness”, and the verse above reminded me of what I read.  I think you will be blessed too as I share it with you!

“God’s desire is for us to serve, not for us to be served. Jesus clearly taught that the servant is the one who is the greatest of all. Service is to be our life.  It’s a matter of being a vase or a bucket. You can have a beautiful vase that’s worth thousands of dollars and set it in a prominent place in your home so that you and others can walk by and say, ‘Isn’t that pretty?’ Or you can have an old five-gallon bucket and use it to carry water to refresh a lot of people who are thirsty. The same is true for us in ministry. Some folks desire solely to be pretty, looked at, and admired for their “worth”. Others are willing to be old buckets, full of God and emptied of self, in order to be of service to others.”

The Bible tells us that when God called Isaiah as a prophet, God did not encourage him with predictions of great success. God told Isaiah that the people would not listen. But God wanted him to speak and write His messages anyways because eventually some would listen.

In a sense, God was calling Isaiah to be an “old bucket”, full of God and emptied of self, in order to be of service to others!

“The joy set before us, however, is the joy of knowing that God is with us, that God is working in us and through us, and that God is pleased with us. And friend, there’s no greater joy than that.” Charles Stanley

"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"