Your Spiritual Life: Devotions From Time Of GraceSample

Sometimes anchors are good

Ever been called a “boat anchor,” i.e., a dead weight that’s holding back someone else’s dreams? There’s always somebody in every organization who is a buzzkill, a complainer and foot-dragger, forever draining energy from the group. In that sense "anchor" means “nuisance,” a hindrance to progress. Anchors in and of themselves are basically good though. They keep your fishing boat from drifting into the weeds, and they keep seagoing vessels away from sandbars and dangerous reefs when they need to maintain their offshore position as they load and unload when a deep-draft dock is not available.

A ship’s anchor is a familiar Christian symbol that you will see in paint, mosaic, or stained glass in churches. It is a reminder that one of God’s chosen writers used that metaphor to show how secure we can be when our hopes of forgiveness, acceptance, and eternal life are guaranteed by God himself. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).

Our lives are sometimes blown about by terrible winds--financial losses, illnesses, family breakups, quarrels, spiritual breakdowns, job layoffs, and worse. But God’s words, backed up by his solemn oath, guarantee that we are loved and forgiven now, acquitted in heaven’s court, and heirs of a joyful eternity. You are not strong enough to be the anchor of your life. God’s Word is.