Tuesday, in the early morning, a container ship lost power in the harbor at Baltimore and drifted … with tragic consequences … into the Key Bridge which collapsed. Adrift, without power, the ship’s captain was helpless, sending out an urgent distress call. No anchor, no power, no direction – then tragedy!
Are you adrift today?
Are the currents of life carrying you along without any anchor, with a sense of emptiness, perhaps even hopelessness?
Natural hope flickers and dims when life is filled with trials and sorrows and brightens when the crisis is past but there is a greater hope, an enduring hope to which we are called!
I love Holy Week because it takes us back to revisit the reason for our Christian hope. As we move from Palm Sunday, towards Good Friday’s Cross, through the darkness of the tomb on Saturday, and then into the glorious celebration of Resurrection Life I find renewal of the basic reasons for my hope. We cannot over-estimate the importance of that hope, my friend. One of the most powerful forces in life is hope. The dictionary defines hope as: A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment, something that is desired, the theological virtue of hope is defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but possible to attain with God’s help.
The writer of Hebrews tells us “Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6:16-19, NIV) In His covenants, God has made a promise, confirmed by His unchanging nature of absolute Truth, and holds out the hope of life eternal to us.
That hope is our anchor, keeping from the rocks that can make us a wreck, holding us in place when wind and wave are temptuous! There is such peace found in that anchor who is Jesus. Do you know Him, love Him, trust Him? God gives us the ability to choose the object of our hope! Some choose to pursue the ‘good life’ formed around around financial security and material possessions. Others shape are given hope by the love of family. Some work at securing recognition and/or success. Can we acknowledge that those things will not always hold us steady?
Economies cycle through seasons of ‘boom and bust!’
Treasures can be stolen, lost, and eventually decay.
Death inevitably comes to us all.
Our best success is eclipsed by someone who is faster or smarter.
That is why we are counseled by Peter to “set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:13, NIV) Hope that is built on the gift of eternal life through Christ will never be disappointed, nor lost! Nothing can steal the hope that is found in God’s gift of restoration to a relationship with Him and the resulting promise of a home in Heaven. Yes, this is an anchor that will hold, growing even stronger in the storms.
Choosing the right hope is critically important because what we hope for not only brings us comfort, our hope shapes the way we live day to day. John illustrates this wonderfully saying, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3, NKJV) The hope of being received by the Lord Jesus, seeing Him in His glory, produces a vision that draws us to a holy and noble life.
On what or whom have you set your hope?
Let the amazing facts of Holy Week – Christ’s offering of Himself at the Cross to reconcile us to our Father and His emergence from Tomb that brings us assurance of ultimate victory over death become your hope.
This word from the Word is worthy of our meditation. “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17, NIV) “Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42:11, NLT)
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(Video of this blog at this link)
How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night
Then through the darkness Your loving-kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished the end is written
Jesus Christ my living hope
Who could imagine so great a mercy
What heart could fathom such boundless grace
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame
The cross has spoken I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own
Beautiful Savior I’m Yours forever
Jesus Christ my living hope
Hallelujah praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ my living hope
Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus Yours is the victory
Jesus Christ my living hope
Oh God You are my living hope
Brian Johnson | Phil Wickham © 2017 Phil Wickham Music; Simply Global Songs; Sing My Songs; Bethel Music Publishing
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