Keep the Pressure Out
Acts 2:38; Mt 28:19-20
Illustration
by Brett Blair

There are two ways of handling pressure. One is illustrated by a bathysphere, the miniature submarine used to explore the ocean in places so deep that the water pressure would crush a conventional submarine like an aluminum can. Bathyspheres compensate with plate steel several inches thick, which keeps the water out but also makes them heavy and hard to maneuver. Inside they're not alone. When their lights are turned on and you look through the tiny, thick plate-glass windows, what do you see? Fish! These fish cope with extreme pressure in an entirely different way. First, they don't build thick skins; they remain supple and free. Second, they compensate for the outside pressure by equalizing pressure inside themselves - where we have a lot of air pockets inside us that equalizes the pressure of our atmosphere, fish have less air pockets and more water within. So, that water on the inside equalizes the outside water pressure.

So under extreme pressure, my advice to you is first, don't be so thick skinned. Second, learn to appropriate the water of your Baptism. Receive God's power within to equal the pressure without.

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Illustrations from ChristianGlobe, by Brett Blair