| A crucial dynamic of handling stress is knowing | | | | traditional religious system, their society and from |
| that the strength within must be greater than the | | | | even their brothers to abandon their faith in |
| pressure without. A great example of this is the | | | | Christ. The stress was intense and they must |
| contrast between the aquatic life in the depths of | | | | have felt as though they could cave in at any |
| the ocean and a bathysphere. | | | | time. But... they had an inner life that held strong. |
| A bathysphere is a miniature submarine used to | | | | "We have this treasure in jars of clay to show |
| explore the ocean at depths that would easily | | | | that this all-surpassing power is from God and not |
| crush a conventional submarine. Bathyspheres | | | | from us." The writer here must have keenly felt |
| compensate for the pressure with steel plates, | | | | his vulnerability compared to the circumstances he |
| several inches thick, successfully keeping the | | | | was facing. |
| water out. But, they are also heavy and hard to | | | | And, what was this treasure residing in a vessel |
| maneuver. And when the external lights are | | | | of frail earth? What they know... what they've |
| turned on, you can see numerous fish through the | | | | experienced of God... the light He has shed in their |
| thick plate-glass windows. | | | | heart of His glory, of His character, of Jesus |
| These deep-sea fish cope with the extreme | | | | Christ and of the scriptures... these can also be |
| pressure of their environment in an entirely | | | | your core strength. Frances Bacon said, |
| different way. They don't have thick, rigid skins; | | | | "Knowledge is power." The biggest mistake we |
| they remain supple and free. They compensate | | | | can make is to forsake what we know in our |
| for the outside pressure through equal and | | | | hearts - because of circumstances, because of |
| opposite pressure inside themselves. Christians, | | | | disappointment, because of living in this fallen |
| likewise, don't have to be hard and | | | | world - when it's been put there to keep us from |
| thick-skinned-as long as they appropriate God's | | | | being crushed. |
| power within to equal the pressure without. | | | | I'm not talking about a false strength of hardening |
| In handling stress in our lives, God has given us a | | | | our hearts and putting up barricades, trying to |
| source of sustaining strength. As we face the | | | | protect the fragility we feel. This is a genuine |
| relentless squeeze of life's challenges and | | | | strength that is forged in the fires of the trial of |
| responsibilities we can be comforted with the | | | | our faith, where God's integrity emerges |
| promise, "We are hard-pressed on every side, but | | | | victorious. When handling stress by God's grace, |
| not crushed!" This was written to Christians who | | | | nothing is more powerful than a personal |
| were under tremendous pressure from their | | | | experience of the reality of God's faithfulness! |