One of the tragedies of people being cold and indifferent spiritually is that they spread their spirit everywhere and to everyone.
Let me illustrate. I was talking with a fellow pastor one day and he mentioned a “bucket committee” in his church. I replied, “Bucket committee? I have never heard of such a thing. I thought our church had every committee that a church could have. We have 28 standing committees, two lying committees, and one dead committee. But we sure don’t have a bucket committee.”
He replied, “Oh, yes you do. Every church has one. It is a self-appointed committee. Every time somebody gets fired up they throw a bucket of water on him to cool him off.” I knew then what he meant. We not only had such a committee in our church but I also knew who the chairman was!
Isn’t it strange that those who don’t want to do anything don’t want others to do anything either? They have lost their zeal and they want to squelch zeal in others also. They’ve grown cold, and if you aren’t careful they will give you frostbite also.
But don’t let them do it. Only the zealous and enthusiastic can change the world. Fervency is what we need to be effective in God’s work. Evangelical leader Paul S. Reese said, “Fervency is not the prairie fire of an undisciplined emotionalism; it is the blowtorch of purposeful Christian conviction.”
A part of our problem is that we are too casual about the things we do. Stay away from the bucket committees in life. Don’t you dare help them or let them squelch you. Keep your fire alive. Doing so will be a blessing to you and to the world.