Have you ever felt that you needed an anchor for your life? That the storms of life were trying to smash you on the rocks?
For some people, the rocks could be our family, for others, the loss of a job, death of a loved one or a serious illness. Storms of life can overwhelm us like a wave that crashes upon a ship.
Gone are the memories of peaceful sailing on smooth seas — all we can think of for the moment is the storm we are experiencing right now. Can I survive, or will I sink? In our thoughts, sometimes the storms are so great that sinking doesn’t seem that bad of an option.
To weather the storms of life, we need an anchor to keep us in place, to keep us from being swept toward the rocky shore, to keep us from capsizing and sinking.
What is our anchor?
St. Paul writes in Hebrews that we have an anchor — the sure hope of salvation through Jesus Christ. This is the hope set before us, the hope that greatly encourages us. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:18-19).
Verse 20 tells us that this hope enters the presence of God in heaven, where Jesus is already helping us. Our hope is anchored on Jesus. Jesus is stands with us if we placed our lives in his hands.
The storms still come, though, and rage around us. The waves beat on us, but we need not fear — our anchor is in the unsinkable in Jesus. Jesus will safeguard our lives. Our anchor will keep our lives safe — as long as life itself will last. That means forever. With Jesus we have an anchor for life, a point of stability when life gets rough. Don’t wait for the storms to begin — anchor your life in Jesus now.
In Matthew 7: 24 – 27 Jesus told a parable to the people. The parable was where two people built their houses. One anchored person had anchored the house on soft sand because it too much works to dig deeper. The second person had done the work and dug down to the rock to anchor the house. Then Jesus explains that the storms of life struck both house. You and I know what happen to house built on the sand — it collapsed.
Jesus will not prevent the rain, water and wind. The problems of life will arrive, but if your anchor in life is on the rock of Jesus, you will stand. When the storms of life beat upon us, we need some solid anchor to keep us steady.
Jesus seeks us to build our lives not just on hearing his words, but making them the anchor of life. We need more than just the name of Jesus. We need to make a commitment to anchor to his words, to trust him not just with the future, but to trust him in life right now.
Teacher and writer Katie Kacvinsky wrote: “All you need is one safe anchor to keep you grounded when the rest of your life spins out of control.”