Scuba Divers aren’t Rebels
There are no rebellious scuba divers. No student ever slept through the class which taught how to breathe through a regulator, clear your dive mask or correctly read your depth or pressure gauges.
If an underwater explorer found a treasure chest or priceless artifacts in a sunken ship, about to topple into the ocean’s deepest trench, he would still let it sink into the abyss rather than fail to surface when his air pressure gauge was trending toward “empty.” Scuba divers swim in a potentially dangerous alien environment. Their specialized training and equipment keeps them alive and healthy.
The Scuba Diver’s Equipment: Spiritual Lessons
Dive Mask: A good dive mask allows you to see underwater by providing a watertight seal around your eyes and nose, creating an air pocket. This trapped air gives divers a normal medium for their eyes to see the underwater world around them.
Spiritual Thought: To see clearly, Christians must look at this world’s inhabitants through the the Holy Spirit and not with our natural eyes. When I judge a man or woman by what I see, my judgement is usually wrong, because my knowledge of that person is incomplete. I can’t see their heart. My earthly judgments are often too harsh. My evaluations of people after seeing them by the Spirit are frequently more merciful or compassionate.
The Regulator and the Octopus: The regulator is the mouthpiece which connects via a hose to a compressed air tank. The octopus is a back-up regulator, usually bright yellow with a longer hose, designed to allow a diver to share his or her air if another scuba diver gets into trouble.
Spiritual Thought–To function well in the workplace or anywhere else, we need a continuous flow to our spirit of godly knowledge, truth, wisdom, strength and grace. This spiritual infilling comes through good teaching and the spiritual encouragement of other Christians. They supply what we lack. Frequently their prayers lift us up when we can’t lift ourselves.
Buoyancy Compensator (BC): A scuba diver wears the BC either as a backpack or a vest. Adding air to an internal bladder causes the diver to rise, while venting the air causes the diver to sink. People can thus adjust their depth in the water column. The BC also acts as a flotation device when the diver has surfaced and is waiting to be picked up.
Spiritual Thought-We need to float. The Holy Spirit, when relied on, has the ability to lift us above our circumstances, providing us with peace during difficult or trying times.
Scuba Fins: Fins magnify the power of our leg kicks and help us swim much more efficiently, with far less effort.
Spiritual Thought-The Holy Spirit knows the tools we need to be effective in the tasks He has called us to do. Like the diver’s fins, He equips us with spiritual gifts and natural abilities.
Submersible Pressure Gauge (SPG): The SPG indicates how much compressed air is left in the tank. Many scuba divers consider this piece of information important.
Spiritual Thought-Even Jesus “came up for air.” Our Lord stepped away from his disciples to spend quality time alone with His Father, seeking spiritual renewal and direction. As this world gets darker our reliance upon Jesus, the Holy Spirit and our Heavenly Father will have to deepen.
Dive Computer: Worn like a wrist watch, dive computers keep track of your current depth, time under water and bottom time remaining. Depending on how far down a diver goes, a certain amount of nitrogen dissolves in their body. Beyond certain depths the diver has to make a gradual ascent to avoid “the bends,” which a dive computer calculates. More expensive dive computers track water temperature, remaining air pressure and compass readings.
Spiritual Thought–Our equivalent of the “dive computer” is the indwelling Holy Spirit. Just as a scuba diver has to check his wrist, we receive the Spirit’s guidance only when we are smart enough to ask for it.
Wet suit: Water conducts heat away from a person’s body 20 times quicker than air. The wet suit’s fabric insulates the scuba diver’s body and keeps them warmer. It also provides protection from sharp coral or small hostile sea creatures. The gloves help the diver handle dangerous ocean dwellers safely.
Spiritual Thought-My personal belief is that the Holy Spirit protects us from dangers we aren’t even aware of, though He doesn’t protect us from everything.
We too swim in an alien world, with hidden dangers and hazards. When Jesus walked the earth, He relied completely on His Heavenly Father. What about you? Do you need a new mask to see people clearly or is your air hose crimped? The Holy Spirit supplies us with everything we need. Just ask.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
II Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)
All images are from Pixabay.com
Resources:
All of my technical information about scuba diving came from a website called “Scuba Diver Info.com.” Click on this link to visit their site.
