My Anchor Holds

One Year Bible
New Testament Passage (for Sun., Nov. 4, 2012): Hebrews 6:1-20

¹⁹ This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, ²⁰ where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.  Hebrews 6:19-20 (NKJV)

Bestselling author Andy Crouch writes, "Human beings can live for forty days without food, four days without water, and four minutes without air. But we cannot live for four seconds without hope."  Hope is as vital as food, as water, as the air we breathe. 

But hope is more than wishful thinking.  Hope is an anchor.  It holds us steady while we move toward the sure and secure destiny that Jesus has already procured for us.  Like an anchor holds a ship, hope holds us in the storm.  At times, you can feel like your life is like a ship tossed on the stormy seas.  But, despite the turbulence, YOUR ANCHOR HOLDS.  You are tethered to the rock.  The anchor of hope is lodged securely in the Rock.  It reaches through the uncertainty and enters into the very Presence of God.  HE IS OUR HOPE.

Nobel Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa may be controvesial about many things but he got one thing right.  He was asked, "After all you've seen and endured, are you really as optimistic as you seem?"  He replied, "I'm not optimistic, no. I'm quite different. I'm hopeful. I am a prisoner of hope. In the world, you have very bad people—Hitler, Idi Amin—and they look like they are going to win. All of them—all of them—have bitten the dust."  He went on to say that Romans 5:8 is his life verse: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He said, "It sums up the Gospel wonderfully. We think we have to impress God so that God could love us. But he says, 'No, you are loved already, even at your worst.'"

Hope says, "Throw you're worst at me, and I'll still be standing!"  The great old hymn states, "My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus blood and righteousness."  No matter how bad it seems in the world, we have a sure future.  That's what the resurrection means.  I WILL STAND AGAIN -- no matter what.