Facing the Blowtorch

I saw the coolest video the other day!

It started with a paper cup–just a normal, empty paper cup. And a blowtorch. When the blowtorch was turned on, the cup was completely destroyed by the fire in about 20 seconds.

But that’s not what made the video so cool.

Next, a paper cup was filled halfway with water. The blowtorch was turned on, but only the top of the cup burned and blew away; the cup was safe wherever it was touching the water.

But that’s not what made the video so cool, either.

For the last segment, a paper cup was filled completely with water. The blowtorch was blasting on that cup for two full minutes, but the cup came out victorious! All it had was a little burn mark on the side. Eventually, the water would boil away, and the cup would once again be vulnerable, but until then, the cup was impervious to even the fire of the blowtorch.

What really made this video so cool was that we can apply it to our lives. So, if we are the paper cup, and the blowtorch and the fire represent everything that is hurled at us in this life — everything that tries to destroy us — how do we fill ourselves with water so that we can be victorious?

We read in John, chapter 7: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (verse 37). To the Samaritan woman at the well Christ said: “…whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4: 14).

The teachings and the gospel of Jesus Christ are the water that keep us safe from trial, from temptation, from everything that would destroy us. We must fill ourselves with this water. And when the heat comes, and the water begins to evaporate, it is by making a habit of prayer, scripture study, and church attendance that we will replenish our cup.

True, we still receive some wounds in life. We still have to face tough times, just as the cup still received some marks from the fire. But as we continue to fill ourselves from the well of Christ’s love and teachings, we can handle the bumps and bruises along the way, and we won’t be destroyed. I know that the water of Christ is a well that we can draw from forever, that it will never dry out and never fail us. And I know that it will keep us strong.