What’s Down in the Well, Comes Up in the Bucket

Luke 6:45

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

I have always been intrigued with sayings and proverbs and am fascinated as to how simplistic they are but yet so profound. I heard this one again not too long ago. I looked it up and it seems that it came from the 1800’s and most likely by a farmer which would seem appropriate. It is a metaphor that basically means that what’s truly in someone’s heart will eventually come out of their mouth.

Matthew 12:34-35

“O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?

for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”

If your well is filled with muddy water, then guess what? That is what will come up in your bucket. If it is pure clean water, then that will come up in your bucket. The verse above is talking about the Pharisees. The Pharisees pretended to be righteous, but Jesus said this about them in Matthew 23:27 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.” In other words, their wells looked pretty nice from the outside but they were full of wickedness.

How about you? What is in your well? Others may not be able to see but you know and more importantly God knows. You may think that you can hide and camouflage it, but there will come a time when what is on the inside will be glaringly evident on the outside. What emotions and feelings are hiding in your well? Is your well full of resentment, anger, hostility, jealousy, rage, and envy? How about pride, selfishness, deceitfulness, rebellion, and disobedience?

Matthew 15:18

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.”

These are acts of our sinful nature and they are sins. There is only One Who can help us with these sins and clean these sins out of our wells. Many times we are told in God’s Word to just call on Him and ask for forgiveness and when we do, He will clean up our wells and make them clean and usable again. Then we will fill our wells with “...love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23

You might ask, “How do all these bad things get into our wells in the first place?” Every day we are bombarded on all sides with all kinds of things. It’s what we take in, what we dwell on and allow to take up space in our hearts that fill our wells with unwelcome thoughts or actions. The music we listen to, is it honoring to the Lord? Would you be ashamed if the Lord walked into the room and listened to it with you? Same thing with TV, books or conversations that you may have or be a part of (intentionally or not). How about the places that you go or the words that you speak? How about the internet and social media? Would you be ashamed if God were right there in the room with you? Guess what? He is and I’m sure His heart is broken when we take Him to places we shouldn’t be and do and say things that we shouldn’t. So what’s in YOUR well? Maybe it’s time to clean it out. Get rid of everything that would not be pleasing to the Lord so that when your bucket comes up you will not be ashamed before the Lord. Don’t be deceived because whatever is in YOUR well WILL eventually come up in your bucket!

Mark 7:20-23

“And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”