This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, (Hebrews 6:19 NKJV)

Hope a universal need is often swallowed up in the details of life.  Someone we know is diagnosed with cancer.  A relationship falls apart and someone we know allows the lure of this world to draw them away from the Lord.  Our heart is broken and we are saddened by the loss of loved ones.  We don’t understand how someone could make decisions that bring hurt and destruction to their lives.  It seems our world is falling apart and there is nothing we can do.

Oddly enough there is something we can do.  We can choose.  We can choose to believe in the hope that is in Christ or we can choose to allow our circumstances to destroy our hope, happiness and steal away our joy.

The Bible says the hope that we have in Christ is an anchor.  An anchor is designed to keep a ship in place.  It is designed to keep the ship from being carried away by the tide or the waves of the ocean or lake. The hope we have in Christ is our anchor.  It is both sure and steadfast. In the preceding verse we read “that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:18 NKJV)

God has set a hope before us.  It is the hope of being set free from our sins, liberated from the power of sin and eventually to be distanced from the very presence of sin itself.  This hope is not just “pie in the sky” hope; but a present reality and possession.  Our hope is in the “immutability” of God’s word.  That is God is incapable of lying or deceiving.  He does not give false hope but a sure and steadfast hope.

Today I am thinking of my sister Patsy who died of cancer last June.  I miss her terribly.  I miss her hugs, her smile, her calling me “Bud”.  However, I have great consolation that she is not at all missing me; but in heaven she is having the time of her life.  She is happy, joyous, healthy and whole.  She has discovered that her hope in Christ has become a living reality.

And because of Christ, I have hope of seeing her again.  That hope sustains me, gives me peace and helps me cope with the loss of someone I love.  And this hope is based upon two things that God promised and two promises He fulfilled.  One is that Jesus would come.  The Old Testament is full of prophecies that foretold the coming of Christ. He came as was promised.  The second is the resurrection of Christ.  He said He would die and live again and He did!  These two promises give me hope of another promise.  He will come back for me and you. He will!  I believe it! Do you?