Anchor of our Soul

Dear Church,

Hello again. I know it has been a while since I posted last, but I wanted to take some time to think on this one. This one is super precious to me. It’s about Jesus.

Have you ever marveled at the wonder of the cross of Jesus Christ? Just the beauty of what He accomplished for us on the cross is truly unreal. When He died on the cross He took our place. Jesus, the beautiful son of God, took on all of humanity’s sin at the moment of His crucifixion. God’s wrath had to judge evil one way or another. God gave His son so His wrath could be fulfilled against all forms of evil man could ever become. The crucifixion at the cross of Jesus Christ was a love so grand and incomparable to any other kind of love we could ever hope to know.

Jesus not only died on the cross. He rose again and proved to us that the miraculous power of His resurrection was able to conquer even our fear of death itself. At the moment of resurrection, He showed us not even the sting of death could keep God from loving us and welcoming us to His life eternal. Jesus gave us the ultimate exchange for death. He gave us His new life eternal.

As I began to think on what I was going to write, I thought about what would it be like if God decided not to send His son to us? What if God truly had decided He wanted to do nothing to rescue man from sin? We would have no hope and no anchor for our soul to cling to. There would be no reason for us to find purpose in our life or even grasp the concept there could be something remotely good/loving about God. The more I focus on Jesus and what He has done for you and me, the more I realize we owe it all to Him. For if God did not send His son to us, we would be without all hope. I am so thankful God sent His son to us. God desperately loved us enough to give us His son so we would not have to live a hopeless life while in a sinful state forever doomed.

My purpose today is to remind us we owe it all to Jesus and there is nothing else we can anchor our lives to that will bring us any hope or peace. Many people are seeking to find strength, hope, and comfort in everything but Jesus Himself. A follower of Jesus knows that worldly pursuit will not bring peace. There is no amount of money, no career, no family, no pain, no ailment, no trial, no problem that Jesus cannot conquer for us. Because we owe it all to Jesus, we must let Him be the anchor of our soul. When Jesus is the anchor of our life, we are no longer going to be tossed to and fro by every problem that comes up against us. We may get beaten down from the storm, but we will not lose our place because our anchor is holding us firm.

I like to think of Jesus being our anchor in this picture. Life is the storm. It throws waves at us, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Sometimes life throws a big storm our way that is a combination of all three. However, when those storms come, we find in those moments, Jesus Christ is the anchor that holds us firm and immovable. His cross is the anchor line connected to our life (boat) holding us in place. After every storm, there is always some sun. When it comes out, we continue to carry on and move forward in our pursuit of Him knowing full well His plans for us are manifested as we walk (sail) in His will. In the end, we must do everything possible to reach our destination where He has called us to sail. When we get to the end of our journey, we look back and see the anchor was always with us. Nothing can destroy our anchor and nothing can destroy our boat because Jesus is the anchor holding us together.

In this season, we are wise to cling to that hope – that precious reminder Jesus is the anchor of our life. What is our life to Jesus? It is our very soul. To Jesus, our soul is the very thing He is after. When our eyes are opened to what Jesus did for us on the cross and we accept His sacrifice in our place on that cross, we exchange our life for His. In that moment, our souls are His and are no longer captive to sin. This is what makes Jesus so amazingly beautiful. His redemption and resurrection reverses the very captivity our soul was under. Our soul becomes captive to the righteousness of Christ and no longer to the sinful state. This is why Jesus truly is the anchor of our soul. Our ship never sinks with Jesus as our anchor. Our soul finds rest in the beautiful, lovely work of the Son of God.

Take confidence in the anchor of your soul. His name is Jesus and He never leaves us nor forsakes us. Quite the opposite. He showers us with His love and secures our boat in the midst of every single storm with His anchor. Praise Him.

“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” – Hebrews‬ ‭6:17-20‬ ‭ESV‬‬