Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 25: HOPE”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
We have this hope as an anchor for our souls… (Hebrews 6:19)
I will be the first to admit, “I don’t have a lot of experience with boats.”
Sure I’ve been on a fishing boat, and a ferry or two, but that’s about it. However, I remember fishing experiences with my Aunt in Alexandria, MN. We would motor out a ways into the lake and she would always know where the fishing hole was for sunfish. The goal was to sit right on top of the weed bed and spend a few hours catching a bunch of “sunnies.” No matter how slight the breeze was, the boat would move unless we put down the anchor. We were taught how to let it down, but often times we would find ourselves drifting off the fishing spot and away from where the fish was biting.
The anchor didn’t hold.
No matter large container ship or small fishing boat, when you put an anchor down, you want it to stick. You want the anchor to hold you in place, no matter how strong the breeze is or how high the waves are. The job of an anchor is to make sure the boat you are in is firm and secure.
When the writer to the Hebrews describes “this hope as an anchor for our souls,” he too is wanting us to have a hope that is firm and secure. I suspect the Spirit of God led him to use the picture of the anchor because he knows that life can seem rather hopeless at times. We have days where the winds of opposition blow strongly and the waves of hardship beat hard. We may have days like Job did as he lost all his earthly possessions and even his health was being challenged.
- Job 7:4 When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’
The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
5 My body is clothed with worms and scabs,
my skin is broken and festering. - “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.
We’ve all had these days. They come after losing a position at work. They come after a diagnosis of a terminal illness. They come when we hear of a death of a loved one. They come when our career is cut short by an injury. They come when someone we think loves and cares about us leaves with little warning. The list of winds and waves that beat against us can be extensive.
So what enables us in the middle of these circumstances have expectation for a better future (hope)?
The Apostle Peter puts it this way:
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
Hope is anchored in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because the resurrection of Jesus Christ anchors our expectation of a better future in heaven.
…an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
You don’t want that which you anchor your eternity on to perish, spoil or fade. You want it to live and last forever…exactly what Jesus did and who Jesus is…he proved it by his resurrection.
More on what makes this anchor so secure tomorrow…but for today, know with certainty a living Jesus is someone you can always count on and a living Jesus is always the anchor for your soul.
Apply: What are the winds and the waves of life beating against you right now? How does certain hope alter your perspective on these situations?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for providing an anchor for my soul in Jesus, your Son. AMEN.