Hebrews 6:18-19

We who have fled to God 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.

I suspect that if you spoke with most people about the future they would be full of fears and uncertainties. We live with the continual threat of international terrorism and the wildfires, floods and hurricanes that batter our world remind us of the appalling challenge of climate change. Wherever you look, there are monumental problems to face in our own society and throughout the world, and I think that most people would assume that there is no hope. Indeed, they would conclude that anyone who speaks the language of hope has chosen to ignore the facts.

The writer to the Hebrews, however, was full of hope. He was confident as he looked to the future because he knew his God so well. He knew that God was a place of refuge amid the storms of life, and that he provided an anchor that could be entirely relied upon. He never claimed that life would be problem free. He anticipated that the Church was likely to face renewed waves of persecution, and he knew that those who followed Christ would always be severely tested. But he knew that the anchor would hold and that’s what mattered most.

The old hymn asked the question: “Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?” and that’s the key issue. We need to know that when disaster strikes we have an anchor that is able to hold firm, and prevent us from being dashed against the rocks no matter how tough the situation might be. When everything is going well it might seem irrelevant whether or not we’ve got an anchor. But the fact is, we need hope to inspire and encourage us whatever the weather. When that hope is securely founded on our faith in Christ we can be confident that when problems occur we have nothing to fear. Our anchor will definitely hold.

Question

Are you sure that Christ is the anchor of your life?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that it is possible to be full of hope as I look to the future. Amen