Listen:
“We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain.” Hebrews 6:19
Reflect:
The word hope gets tossed around a lot in everyday life. We say things like: “I hope I can do this.” “I hope it works out.” “I hope there will be a favorable outcome.”
These expressions have a sense of wanting something to happen but not being entirely sure it will. The Miriam Webster Dictionary defines hope as: “to want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen or could be true.” In this definition, there is that lingering element of the unknown and the possibility of a negative outcome.
The Greek word for hope used in the above passage is elpis—which is defined as an “expectation of what is sure” (Strong’s Concordance of the Bible)—in the Christian sense elpis is a “joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon).
The writer of Hebrews urges us to seize this hope which is a steadfast anchor to our soul. When a boat is firmly anchored to something solid, it doesn’t drift away, and it can withstand the battering of wind and swirling waters. When our soul is anchored to the hope we have in Christ, we won’t drift away when confronted with the struggles and trials of the world. No matter what happens, we can rest on God’s promises which are unbreakable and unchangeable.
N.T. Wright (one of my favorite authors and theologians) says:
“Christian hope isn’t optimism, a vague sense that things will probably turn out all right. Christian faith is trusting—and going on trusting through thick and thin—in the God who made unbreakable promises and will certainly keep them. Christian hope is looking ahead to the time when, according to those promises, God will make the world over anew, completing the work he began in Jesus. And it’s Jesus on whom the whole thing rests.…the point of it all is that the anchor itself is secure and solid.” (Hebrews for Everyone)
Prayer of Response:
Thank you, Lord, for your promises that are unbreakable and unchangeable. Help me anchor my soul to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the assurance of salvation that you have given to me through his death and resurrection. Let me never take that for granted.
—Submitted by Dona Diehl
Dona has been with Lifesprings since its beginning in Grenoble, France and currently serves on the Executive Team. She and her husband, Howard, live in Illinois, where they minister in a Cambodian church. They have two adult children and four grandchildren.
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