Anchors and Hope

In Hebrews 6:19, the TransformingWord says:

"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest according to to the order of Melchizedek."

Being hope-less, having no hope that things will or can change...that is the worst place to be. Often I enter lives that dwell here...here in a fearful land without any hope that things can change for the better, that they can survive.

Each of us has had hours or days or years of painful life experience. It is part of the human existence. Maybe it is a health issue, maybe it is relationships gone troubled, maybe it is personal problems, personal sin, past abuse, current memory of a hurtful past. We know this is true. No one escapes this piece of life on earth. I don't have the capacity to take away others' pain and that is a deep pain of its own. But in my life, Hope accompanies my pain.

But hope does not always accompany people's pain. Why not? I don't understand why one would not claim the only Hope offered for complete meaning in life. It helps so much just to have the hope that things will change. It offers the strength to go forward, to put one foot in front of the other and make it through another day...even in pain. Yet, often that very sustaining commody of hope is missing.

The TransformingWord claims that we can have a kind of Hope that will be an Anchor for our soul when we are in the times of life pain.

Anchors belong to ships. Anchors hold the ship steady in the rocky waters of the deep seas. Bouncing and swaying, rolling mercilessly with no control of its own. A ship upon rough waters is held secure by an anchor. Deep deep down in the sea it goes. It's great claw hooks onto earth and rock and plant matter, and its weight holds deep within the waters...sinking, holding, protecting against the ship being washed away by the storm.

And Jesus says He is an Anchor for the soul. When my life is rolling uncontrollably in deep waters, when I can't swim and dark water is lapping over into my heart...my Anchor holds Hope for tomorrow.

And Jesus says He is a high priest. A priest prays for us, cares for us, watches and worries over us, and delivers us securely to God. And Jesus claims to be a priest forever, of the old eternal order of Melchizedek.

Long ago, Simon Peter said to Jesus: Lord, where else can we go, for You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:68) ...You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. (Matthew 16:16)

I'll hold the Anchor. I'll hold the Hope. I Believe!

transformed

At age 17, my life was transformed by The Word. I had some church training as a child, and believed there was a God whose Son was Jesus. I had only limited understanding of the Word. I did not know the Creator God through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

I was generic, naive, unmindful about life, and really unmindful about my own identity. I had no major problems, no abuse, no trauma in my life, as many must endure. Nothing terrible, nothing wonderful...just doing the next thing.

Why did God allow me to see His face clearly and to understand forgiveness? Why did I find knowledge of His Way? I was not special, not unusually gifted. When I trusted in Christ at age 17, a meaningfulness and a purpose entered my life experience. I now had a lifetime to grow up in my understanding of the fullness of God's love.

I could never have earned this new life. I am broken humanity, unable to do anything to gain the favor of a Holy God. But God Himself, stepped toward me and while I was still living an unholy life, He opened my eyes and allowed me to see and believe the Truth.

At that moment, I entered life eternal. This quality of life was unavailable to me without the power of God. And God promised this life would never end. It will endure into the time beyond death. This life is securely rooted in Who I know, not what I do...or do not do. I believe!

Thank you, God...for my new life in Jesus Christ.