Thought for Today
Genesis 15:6 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Psalm 119:89 The Lord exists forever; your word is firmly fixed in heaven.
Ephesians 3:16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
What anchors your life? What is the pivot point, the origin of your circle of life? It may well not be something about which you often think; but, for Christians it is a valuable consideration. Abraham was defined by his belief in God and that word ‘righteousness’ is often associated with his name and memory.
This question about anchors came to mind this morning as Greta and I discussed something we read last month in These Days. On August 24, 2024, the author wrote a devotional titled “Tethered to God.” In that devotional, the author wrote, “Every Christian community in every age needs the reminder and encouragement to keep tethered to God by prayer and remembering that nothing is too small or great for our God.”
One of my favorite hymns is What a Friend We Have in Jesus. I love the idea in the first verse, “What a friend we have in Jesus,/All our sins and griefs to bear!/What a privilege to carry/Everything to God in prayer!” Prayer in all its forms does anchor us to God, does become the locus of our identity as Christians.
My theological dictionary defines Christian as “Name applied originally in Antioch to followers of Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26) and now used to designate those who believe in Jesus Christ and seek to live in the ways he taught.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 47)
There are many nouns and adjectives by which I identify myself. That is true of most of us. At various times we are son or daughter. We may be a husband or wife, a spouse. Some of us are parents. Some of the most blessed of us are grandparents or maybe even great grandparents. We may be teacher, preacher, lawyer, doctor, etc. But the locus of my identity, the anchor of my life, the pivot point, the origin of my circle of life is not defined by any of those nouns or adjectives. I am a Christian. My anchor, that which defines and connects me to life itself, is my belief in Jesus as the Christ.
I occasionally mention the congregation I serve and the 2 denominations of which I am a member. But neither denomination nor congregation define me. Important as my family of faith is, it is my faith that is my anchor. In the storms of life, faith sustains me. As I plan my course forward in life, that faith determines and defines my path. My feet are firmly on that path by my being tethered to God, and prayer is my tether.
Every Sunday during worship, we recite the Lord’s Prayer in unison. I wonder how many of us recite by rote memory, never taking the time to reflect on each element of that model prayer Jesus taught his disciples. And, I wonder for how many of us that might comprise the total of our prayer life.
Do you “take it to the Lord in prayer?” Do you regularly and faithfully pray? I do have regular, set times for prayer each day. But, at times I ‘break out in spontaneous prayer.’ Not just when I am traveling on a highway and have a close call! Sometimes I am moved by something beautiful I see as I sit at my computer. Sometimes when things are going my way; sometimes when they are not. I pray about big things and small things. I pray about global issues. I pray about minor issues, insignificant issues and things that aren’t even issues. God knows the major issues which confront my life as well as the trivial, fleeting minutia that randomly pop up in my thoughts. As a Christian, I am privileged to carry everything to God in prayer. Prayer is my tether to the God who anchors my very being. How about you
Stay safe, take it to God in prayer, trust God,
Pastor Ray