Monday, June 9, 2008
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It started on a family vacation in Southern California. The kids were asking about earthquakes which were not a part of our regular growing up years in New Jersey. We started this whimsical little exercise where I would yell, "Earthquake drill!" Now, invariably our older son would run over to his older sister and he would hug her. I would ask innocently, "What are you doing?" to which he would reply, "Dad, you told us to hang on to something heavy!" Oooh, she wasn't, but I'll tell you, that boy was lucky he lived to have a sixth birthday! Actually, when things are shaking, it's really a pretty good idea - hang on to something heavy!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "In Search of the Anchor."
A pop culture analyst named Faith Popcorn, released a book, and was a guest on the same radio talk show that I was a guest on. We got to talk for a few minutes. and I was introduced to what was then her new book. Faith Popcorn is name very well known to people who are involved with marketing in the country. In fact, Fortune Magazine called her "the Nostradamus of marketing." She has had a phenomenal track record for predicting the trends that are going to affect our businesses, our families, and our lives in the future. In that book she listed several trends that she thought would shape our futures. One that particularly intrigued me was anchoring. She described our search for something we can count on to anchor our lives in an increasingly uncertain and unpredictable world. Let me quote a few things she says. "There is a new trend about the inner spirit called anchoring. The search for life's anchor is a must for filling the void that so many are feeling. We're looking for ourselves - our lost souls. A relationship with the divine may be the ultimate expression of anchoring."
Does that sound like anything that's going on inside of you recently? I think we know that the anchor is going to be a person; it's going to be a relationship. We're looking for that anchor relationship that we know will be, let's call it unloseable. But the word "anchor" wouldn't describe our relationships for the most part, today, would it? Relationships would be better described as superficial, disappointing. We've never needed a count-on-able relationship more, and it's never been harder to find. The result? A deepening loneliness.
See, with our need for an anchor in mind, I want to ask you to listen to our word for today from the Word of God, Hebrews 13:5, "God has said, 'Never will I leave you, and never will I forsake you." What a promise! Love that will never leave you abandoned, never alone. Now, do you trust this promise? Yeah, you can because of the price God paid to make it.
Paul, one of the writers in the New Testament talks about it when he tells about the new anchor in his life. He says in Galatians 2:20, "I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." The Bible says that the one and only Son of God came here to deal with the ultimate cause of our loneliness. We're lonely for God. Because of our sin we're away from the one who alone can fill the spiritual hole in our heart. That's why no earth relationship has ever been enough.
The only way for us to have access to God's great love was the death penalty for out sin had to be paid. That is what Jesus did as He died on that cross so you could say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." When you commit yourself to this Jesus, the sin wall between you and God comes down and you have begun the anchor relationship you were made for - that you've been looking for so long.
If you don't have that relationship, and you want to, would you tell God that right now? In the words of a little boy, "Hang onto something heavy." Well, really, Someone who will never leave you.
You say, "Ron, I wish I knew more about how to begin this unloseable relationship with God through Christ. That's what our website's there for, and I want to invite you to visit us at yoursforlife.net. Or I'll send you my booklet called Yours For Life if you'll just call and ask for it. It's a toll free number. It's 877-741-1200. Because if you'll anchor yourself to Jesus Christ, you have just spent your last day alone!