An Anchor of the Soul

Every year I like to choose a focus word, something that helps me to grow in a certain area. I’ve had words like “nurture” and “lifegiving” in the past. I was considering “joy” this year, as I felt that I’d been getting stuck in a mindset of negativity and complaining. But when I asked my husband about it, he surprised me by saying that he didn’t think I needed to focus on that quality this year.

“Really?” I said. “Well, what do you think I should focus on?”

He thought for a moment. “I think you need to be more anchored. You’re easily tossed about, and we’re about to move – twice – and you’ll have a lot of new things this year.”

(As a side note, I love that we can have discussions like this. That he can very honestly tell me where he thinks I need to grow and it doesn’t cause frustration between us, but that we can rationally help each other where we are weak. Vulnerability is the soil of good relationships.)

The more I considered what he said, the more I felt he was right. I am easily tossed about – a frustrating morning of learning, or an inconsiderate word from a stranger, or a messy home can completely derail my day and my peace. Which means I’m putting my sense of peace into the hands of other people and my environment – not where it’s meant to be, in Christ.

Consider this passage from Hebrews 6:19-20: “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 forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

God has given us a hope that acts as an anchor for our soul. Amidst the storms of life, whether that’s job changes, moving across the country, family illness, the exhaustion of parenting and serving others, this anchor firmly holds our souls. I can just picture it in my mind: the spray of water on a deck, tasting the salt on my lips, squinting my eyes to try to see into the dark madness around me, the roar of waves hammering against the side of a ship… pure terror. Without an anchor, all hope is lost and death would feel imminent.

But we have an anchor! We have something that holds us fast in that storm, that weighs the ship down so that even when the storm and sea rage, we are secure. What is that hope? If we go back in Hebrews a few verses, we read:

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”

Hebrews 6:13-18

Notice how the word hope is used several times in this passage – there’s a key point being made here about hope. Our hope is that we will receive our reward, the goodness that God has waiting for us – that’s when full assurance happens, at the end. God has given us both a promise and an oath, two unchangeable things, that say, “Be reassured! Your hope is not in vain. You will obtain the promise.” We know we can trust the hope because we have God’s promise and God’s oath.

Our hope enters within the veil, and Jesus forged the way. Our hope gives us refuge. It is steadfast and sure. “Take hold of it!” God is saying to us. “You have relationship with me forever, because of Jesus.” Our hope is the “better hope” (7:19) because Jesus “is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (7:25). The former priests died, and were unable to make anything perfect, and had to continually offer sacrifices. But not Jesus! His one-time sacrifice forever saves, and he forever lives to intercede for us, so that we forever have the ability to draw near to God’s throne and be with Him. This is our hope, our anchor!

That’s where my focus will be this year: on the anchor of hope that God made for me. I’ll be studying this more and sharing the history of the anchor as a symbol in early Christianity, how God’s anchor is inspiring me to continued growth and good works, and what I’m purposing for my (crazy) year in light of the anchor of hope. May this post give you food for thought and desire to hold fast to God’s anchor!