Anchor 4

Four anchors are available to keep the ship of life from being wrecked on the rocks when the storms come.

In review, the first anchor is solidly grounded in the fact that God is the loving Creator of all that exists. Label it The Creator’s Love. 

The second anchor prevents us from making the mistake of thinking we can avoid the rocks and remedy the problem of sin ourselves. Label it The Sinner’s Predicament.

The third anchor outlines God’s plan for a solution, a rescue. Jesus pays the price for rescue! More than that, He stays with us to advocate for us and keep us on a sound track. What a great plan! Label it The Savior’s Solution.

Now what should our life be like? Lest we think that now we are free to do whatever we want, read this verse. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “You are not your own, you were bought at a price, Therefore honor God with your body.”  We now belong to the Lord in a new way. The fourth anchor calls us to recognize and appreciate that gift of grace by living for Him in His way, not for ourselves. Label it The Believer’s Commitment. 

The idea that we could now just go back to our life of sin is preposterous. We have just agreed that God’s way is right and our way doesn’t cut it. How can we want go back to that? He is Lord, not just Savior. Will we now be able to live without sinning? NO! But with the Spirit of God planted within us we can now grow in bearing the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

There will be huge opposition from our own sinful nature, from people who reject God and from Satan and his demons. The devil is for real, we are in a war zone but he would like us believe he isn’t there. Temptations will come that seek to distract us with the pleasures, possessions, power and prestige we can gain in this life. We need some of each of these in life but if even one of them becomes more important than our relationship with God we are straying severely. Furthermore, since God has freely forgiven us we need to both forgive others and seek forgiveness from others where we can. If we don’t it will weigh us down and keep spoiling relationships.

To summarize, the fourth anchor is based on the idea that we will honor God, seek to love His ways as we learn from the Scriptures and fellow believers.

When storms in life come, and they will, these anchors will avert disaster. Heb_6:19  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Then when our trip is over the Pilot will get us into a safe harbor.

Henry Wiebe

Thank you, Jack, for including my column in this on-line newspaper. We appreciate what you have done!