HOPE, THE ANCHOR

The image of an anchor that is dropped from the ship on to the seabed below, keeping the floating ship in place is an appropriate analogy for the human soul moored onto eternity through hope.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. (Hebrews 6:19,20)

Man’s reluctance to die, desire to live forever and overcome the stark reality of death is a reflection that eternal life is possible. In CS Lewis’ words, “hunger is evidence that food exists, though hunger does not mean that you will get food”. Likewise, we would not be thinking of eternal life and desiring it unless it was possible. However entering eternal life is another matter altogether.

Sin has disconnected man from God and hence the reality of eternal life. Life is doomed to end, and for the most part, man has nothing to look forward, beyond it. Like a ship floating on water and having little control of it once you go off the controls, man’s life appears bleak once death strikes. It is here that hope becomes the anchor that steadies the ship.

What is hope? It is not an imaginary expectation of the things to come, nor is it a calculated projection of the future. Hope in Biblical terms is a firm and secure reality. Man is able to bank on hope using faith in all certainty because Jesus forms the basis for man’s hope. Unlike any other, he came down to earth as God, lived a perfect life in the human body and then embraced death to only suffocate death and return triumphantly from death, proclaiming a death for death itself and for all those who hold on to him.

Hope in action can be seen in our day-to-day life. A student aims for college and works hard toward it. A worker hopes for a promotion and moves toward it as he does the right things. A couple hopes for a successful married life and makes it happen as they work hard for the same. Just like hope in the worldly things, followed by diligence, brings them to pass, likewise the ultimate hope- that of eternal life, is brought to pass when we work toward it. A belief in Christ’s saving work is followed by diligence, patience and an ordering of our lives around the central reality of God’s supremacy. Hope takes us beyond the curtain to the inner sanctuary where God dwells or conversely but equally truly, God comes down to the very core of our existence and orders all things. Life is no longer directed by man’s passions and society’s whims, but by God Himself.

And when the anchor is in place, neither the currents nor the winds can make the ship go astray. Shipwrecks are prevented, and many find refuge within the ship that serves and fulfills what it was created for.

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