We Have This Hope as an Anchor

Listening to the news at the moment, chatting to small business owners, or even reading through our church's list of prayer requests, makes it very tempting to freak out. People in our local community, in our beautiful nation, and across the globe are struggling ... With gender based violence, COVID-19, the economy, corruption, families in crisis, and schools closing as quickly as they're opening, it all makes you wonder why we ever bothered shouting "Happy New Year" at the dawn of THIS particular year!!

But no matter how shaky the ground under our feet might feel right now, certain things remain FACTS:

Firstly, it's a fact that Jesus KNEW we'd have days (and weeks, and months) like this. He IS NOT shaken, or taken by surprise, or out of answers, or asleep at the wheel. So we need not be shaken either. When Jesus warns His disciples that times of trial and difficulty comes, He doesn't give them a list of reasons, or a timetable of events, or a handbook for getting out of tough situations ... He simply tells them: "In Me, you can have peace. The victory over everything that's coming is already Mine, and so, in Me, it's also yours."

Jesus knew that our natural tendency in these times would be to do one of two things: either to worry or to work. The second truth we can hold onto today is that the antidote for our worry is freely available. Jesus told His followers that worry does nothing to solve our situations - it cannot add an hour to our days or a cent to our bank accounts. But He tells us what to do with our worry, and that is: "put it down"! We don't really know what a "yoke" is these days, so allow me to use a rugby allegory ... When I worry about an issue, it's like I'm scrumming on my own against the biggest Tight 5 in the league. But when I hand the situation over to the Lord, HE scrums down with me, and He's the whole front row, the second row and the back row, and I'm just there to do what He tells me to do. And if I stop pushing against Him, and trying to drive the scrum where I think it should go, suddenly we gain ground .. maybe inches, maybe metres, but we advance, and we hold strong, and there's still an enemy or an illness or a need, but it's not so big or so strong anymore, because the weight is on HIS shoulders.

The third truth follows on from the second: we try to be DIY Christians, but actually we're called to be DITL Followers. Unless we are confident that we are complete and whole in Him, we will always believe that the battle is ours, the resources are ours, the strategy is ours ... And we will never be enough to save ourselves. The reality is that if we are in Christ, all things are done by Him, for Him and through Him - we don't have to be enough, because HE is our all-in-all! We still have a part to play (think of the "battle" of Jericho - the people still had to march, but the walls? Jesus did that!!), but we don't have to DIY a solution, because it's already Done In The Lord.

Paul writes a rather strange thing in Galatians 6: 14: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

Why would He boast, or glory, in the instrument of Christ's death??!!

Paul boats of, or is proud of, the cross, because it is literally the ground an foundation of his salvation - the central object of all his hopes and aims.

And it is literally the ground we can stand on in a world where everything else is shakeable and changeable and moveable - we cannot place our hope or our pride in anything that we are, or do, or have, save our righteous in Christ!

It's not the wood of the cross we glory in, but in the effects of Christ's crucifixion there: "in the peace, pardon, righteousness, life, salvation, and eternal glory, which come through His death on the cross" (John Gill).

So, when those thoughts that cause anxiety or fear bubble up inside us and threaten to choke us, we can either freak out, or rest.

The Resting Place is the foot of the cross. And we must make the choice to hold on to it tightly, though storms rage around us and in us.

Hebrews 6: 19 tells us: "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." Our hope, and our salvation, and our victory is in the finished work of Christ on the cross ON OUR BEHALF!

Having an anchor on board tells us that our ship WILL sail through stormy seas. But having an anchor on board tells us that our ship WILL be held firm, no matter what we face.

Psalm 63: 1 - 8

"God, you are my God! I will fervently seek You. My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry, weary, and parched land.

So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to behold Your power and glory.

Because Your gracious love is better than life itself, my lips will praise You.

So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

Just as I am satisfied with the choicest of foods, so my lips will praise You joyfully.

When I think of You in bed, I will meditate on You in the night watches.

For You have been my strength, and in the shadow of Your wings I will shout for joy.

My soul clings to You, even as your right hand supports me."

#hope #anchor #psalm63 #hebrews6 #walkworthy365