FIRST GLIMPSE: The Bucket List

“What an unusual gift!” I thought as my daughter showed me a small, galvanized bucket she received as a Christmas gift. The pail took me back to childhood summers spent feeding the livestock on my grandparents’ farm in northwestern Arkansas. As Victoria turned the bucket slowly in her hands, the gift began to make more sense. Large, farmhouse-styled letters spelled out “Bucket List” on one side. Inside, heavy linen-paper index cards provided space to write places, events, names, and so on.

The unique gift quickly became the topic of conversation with family and friends around the holiday dinner table. We made dozens of suggestions, most with high humor: Get married. Go to Hawaii. Visit Paris. Travel to all 50 states. Lead someone to Christ. Take a cruise. Publish a book. Retire early. Graduate from college. Find a job.

Wait. Lead someone to Christ? As the ideas continued to fly around me, I found myself lost in thought, pondering the significance of that particular suggestion. Sharing the gospel is not only a bucket list item; it is the ultimate bucket list item as we fulfill Christ’s great command and share words with eternal consequence.

In the weeks following, my mind kept returning to Victoria’s bucket. If the gospel is so important, and most believers agree it is, what keeps it from being the central focus of our lives? Fear? Busyness? Feelings of inadequacy? Laziness or apathy? (Surely not!)

I came to several simple conclusions to be more effective witnesses. We must…

• Be deliberate. If we are not intentional about sharing our faith, it is likely one (or all) of the items listed above will get in the way. We must find the time. Get over the fear. Understand the urgency. We must place the gospel at the top of the to-do list and refuse to let anything stand in the way.
  

• Be natural. Sharing Christ is not an activity but a lifestyle. Our relationship with the Savior should saturate every arena of our lives—home, school, work, and leisure. Our faith should enter conversations naturally and leave others seeking to know more.
  

• Be sensitive. We must listen to the quiet leading of the Spirit as He brings people into our lives and opens doors to sharing our faith. When those moments come, we must not shy away from the opportunity but allow Him to steer the conversation.
  

• Be understanding. Not everyone responds to the gospel the same way. Some reject it entirely. Others take years to respond. Be patient in love and persistent in prayer, understanding the effectiveness of the gospel lies in God’s hands, not ours. Our job is simple: be faithful messengers of the truth.
  

• Be constant. Unlike my daughter’s bucket list, sharing the faith is not a one-time, check-it-off event. It is an ever-present, urgent, lifelong responsibility for every believer. So, leave the card in the bucket and go back to it again and again. Someone’s eternity hangs in the balance.
  
  
  

About the Columnist: Eric K. Thomsen is managing editor of ONE Magazine and president of the Evangelical Press Association. Email: eric@nafwb.org.