Adrift and in danger?

When a ship shuts down her engines and waits to dock or rests in harbor, she drops an anchor. Without it, she would be adrift, possibly going aground on the shore or colliding with other ships in the vicinity. The anchor is a vital piece of her equipment!  Unseen and a rather unadmired part of the ship, the anchor provides security and allows the crew to rest.

What anchors you? What keeps you from drifting dangerously when your conscious mind goes on idle, when times come in life when you are not under sail? It is a worthy question! During the last two years, as Bev and I lived with cancer and with a loss of a bright future, as near certain death approached for her, the value of our anchor points in life became ever more obvious to us. The seas of life grew stormy, the shore line of time was near, and rocks could have (and still can) wrecked us, but for the anchors that were in place which kept us from drifting dangerously. What anchored us?

Heaven and the Hope of Eternal Life were, and continue to be for me, primary anchors. Even as I write these words, tears sting my eyes. I miss her terribly and think often of her body lying in that little plot of earth just a couple of miles from my house.  I do not mean to imply that somehow having Heaven in our hearts erased every sorrow. But, we were not self-destructive. We did not turn on each other, on others, or on our Lord in our distress. Instead we rode out the storm (and I am still riding the waves!) secured by this Word:  "God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls." (Hebrews 6:18-19, NLT)   

The concept of Heaven that sustains me is little related to the ideas that float through our contemporary culture.  I am kept by the knowledge that she is held in the grip of an Almighty Father who loves her deeply, that she is fully who He created her to be, that she is beyond the reach of sin’s curse, home!  When the tempests of grief blow hard, that anchor digs deep into the Word’s promise and it holds.

Love, for the Lord and others, is an anchor that is strong. When I am tempted I ask myself, “Is this choice consistent with a life of love?  Would this act or word honor the Lord you love or be loving towards those He loves?”  Before you think I am a little too quick to polish my own halo, I will hasten to add that perfection is not yet in my grasp!  But, I am anchored by love and oh so thankful for it. I have no desire to use people for my own pleasure.  My life is enriched by love that is focused outside of myself. In the days since she died, more times than I care to admit, the anchor of the two loves has tethered my restless soul, keeping me from short-sighted and regrettable actions.   

What passes for ‘love’ in our culture is such an impoverished notion!  The love that keeps us from drifting into destruction is a bold one, much more than an emotion, much stronger than a sexual attraction.  It is a love that is shaped in daily choices, that makes God and others first, that seeks the highest and best. The Word speaks of being "rooted and established in love (so that you) may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:17-19, NIV)  Anchor your life in Love.

Christ is the Anchor!  We say that He anchors us, but are we sincere, speaking from head and heart? Is He your Life?  To know Him as our anchor, there is a great cost, or should we say, investment? "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:3-4, NIV)  We must die to Self, lose our life voluntarily, letting Him envelope us with Divine Life here and now.  Then, He secures us like an anchor.  We know that when we pass from this world to the next that He will release us into a greater beauty than we could imagine presently. The only comparison remotely applicable is that of the caterpillar that disappears into a cocoon and emerges a butterfly! I am secured in Him, hopeful of the beauty to be revealed in me at His coming. Are you?

Put your faith in Him. Anchor yourself in Heaven, Love, and Christ Jesus. These choices will keep you from drifting into destruction or from colliding with others in ways that harm. Here is a word from the Word. Own it!  “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away." (Hebrews 2:1, NIV)

__________

The Haven Of Rest

My soul in sad exile

Was out on life's sea;

So burdened with sin

And distressed.

‘Till I heard

A sweet voice saying,

“Make Me your choice.”

And I entered

The haven of Rest.

I yielded myself

To His tender embrace

And faith taking hold

Of the Word,

My fetters fell off

And I anchored my soul in

The haven of Rest

Is the Lord.

I've anchored my soul

In the haven of Rest

I'll sail the wide seas no more!

The tempest may sweep

O'er the wild stormy deep

In Jesus, I'm safe evermore.

George D. Moore | Henry Lake Gilmour

© Words: Public Domain