“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” ~ Hebrews 2:1 NIV

My soul is adrift… This is such a haunting and hopeless self-realization. If it comes while Life around you is merely placid waters, then “not to worry.” Likely you have not drifted far, and can easily find your way back to being held secure. However, when Life around you is nothing but churning wind and waves, then “my soul is adrift” is a worry! When your soul is tossed about without mercy in Life’s storms of cultural conflict, crushing financial instability and sudden physical malady then it is easy to feel that all is lost. The desperate and overwhelming desire is to abandon ship.

What is needed? What is your soul in need of to be held firm and secure? An anchor. Hope is the anchor of the soul. If so, what is an anchor? If it is a “good” anchor, what does it do? What makes it work? Sometimes we don’t really think about it or don’t really know all that is involved.

An anchor, simply put, keeps the vessel from drifting; maintaining a fixed position on the water to that which is below. However, if the anchor itself cannot reach and secure itself to the bottom, either through weight or by its fluke, it will be of little use. And, if the anchor cannot hold in stormy weather, with all the resistance brought against it by the vessel, the anchor is of no use to the helpless vessel. The anchor matters.

The anchor chain matters too. If it is not long enough for the anchor to reach bottom, it will prevent the anchor from doing its job. On the other hand, if the chain is not securely attached to the boat, or if it breaks under tension, then the anchor will be rendered “lost,” permanently separated from the boat, which is left adrift. A chain then, that is firm and secure, will only be that if it is attached to the boat!

If hope is the anchor to your soul, then what is this hope? Is it that all will turn out just fine if you hang in? No. Something better. It is that your future in and with Christ is secure, come what may. It is a promised presence with Him that absolutely will be fulfilled no matter what. It is Hope in Christ, the salvation of your soul.

If hope is the anchor, then what is the chain? Faith. Faith — not that all will go well with you in your storm, but faith that you are completely linked to Jesus Christ. It is faith that nothing will be able to separate you from God’s love.

What lengthens and strengthens the chain? Prayer. Sometimes when the waters around become mountainous, God can seem too far away to reach your tiny vessel, and your faith may seem vulnerable and weak. It is especially then that your prayer will lengthen and strengthen your faith to hope, when all else seems hopeless. Such faith tenaciously holds to Hope keeping your soul from drifting.

Is your soul adrift? Set your anchor deep!

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
Hebrews 6:19 NIV

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