I referenced in my message Sunday morning how we can be like the bear cub who’d gotten its head stuck in a plastic bucket. The poor animal was frantic and fearful of the men who had come to its rescue. The bear panicked and ran at their attempts to get near. It struggled and fought once caught. Finally, when escape seemed futile it succumbed, pinned by the weight of one heavy-set rescuer and held tight in the grips of others while one man worked at the bucket.
When I searched for the youtube link so I could share this with you I found there were a number of incidents to choose from, all different bears, different buckets… Evidently this happens often. Here’s one of them… (once you get past the ad… apologies.)
I wondered, What would cause a bear cub to stick its head deep in a bucket in the first place?
All I could imagine was there must have been something tempting in the bottom of the bucket. Was it honey? Sticky food scraps? Maple syrup, perhaps from a tapped tree? Whatever it was, the bear overlooked the danger and thought only of the immediate reward.
All temptations work like that, and among the animals we are no different. We are just as easily duped by the allure of the moment over the wisdom of the enduring. It matters not if the bait comes from the world, or the flesh, or the devil… as James outlines,
“…each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15, then he adds “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters” (v.16).
Remember our summary from Sunday*,
“The ability to lie to yourself is a li-ability.”
Temptations, wherever they originate, are always a lie.
- What buckets have you gotten stuck in in the past?
- What buckets do you need to avoid?
What’s on your ‘Bucket list’ – not of things you’d like to do or places you’d like to go, but of things and places to avoid!
Kick these buckets far from you before its time for you to ‘kick the bucket!’
More tomorrow…
*if you would like to listen to this full message, go to the Lincoln Baptist Church website. Under Media, download the Sunday Nov. 18 message.
thebrokenrunner 