Anchored - Retirement Rework

“All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.” (Hebrews 11:13-14, NLT)

I’ve journeyed with friends who would say their retirement season looked nothing like what they believed it would. They’ve faced serious loss and challenge. Yet, a few of these people are filled with an increasing faith and well-nourished hope. From a biblical perspective, they have the one thing in common that makes this all possible. It is this: They have anchored their faith in the right place.

The first part of today’s Scripture can leave us discouraged. After all, “these people” were inducted into the “faith hall of fame,” and yet they didn’t fully realize blessing here on earth. Like me, you probably see yourself as less faith filled than these greats, which leads us to wonder if we’ll find ourselves at an even greater “distance” than they were?

If all aspects of faith were easy, every believer would accomplish them. In that case, Hebrews 11 wouldn’t need to emphasize what faith in action should look like. The need for such a chapter illustrates that faith isn’t simple. It has layers.

The first layer teaches us that we are saved only through faith in Jesus. Another layer, discussed yesterday, shows how faith calls us to “Go, even if we don’t know.” Yet another teaches that righteousness from God is given freely by his grace through faith. And today we learn that it’s through a properly anchored faith that we gain a sturdy hope. Faith is powerful.

I’m reminded of a sermon illustration by late pastor Tim Keller about his fishing adventures on Lake Erie:

The currents would take us all over the place as we were fishing around dusk. In danger of losing sight of land, we only had one hope … the anchor. What does the anchor do? The anchor isn’t effective just hanging down in the water because the water moves around, and the current has its way. You need to release it further into the rocks for it to be effective.

Hebrews 6:19 says, ‘We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.’ What is your hope in? What is the anchor for your soul? What is it that really makes you feel like you can say to yourself ‘boy, I’ve got confidence to live life?’ Is it your job, how you look, your talents, or perhaps friends and family?

Whatever it is that you put your anchor down into, if it’s a circumstance, it’s like putting it in the ebbing and flowing water. You have no real hope unless you can put it in something that’s not a circumstance. Something that doesn’t change. Something that’s heavier than heaven and earth and will outlast your friends, family, looks, abilities, and your job. It will even outlast the rocks at the bottom of Lake Erie.

In our verse today we discover a rock bottom truth that we can anchor into. “These people” were able to welcome their unrealized blessing by agreeing that this earth isn’t their home. They saw themselves as nomads here ... someone passing through. They looked to a permanent place they would one day call home—a heavenly home.

Do you and I have the kind of faith that welcomes something even though we’d like it to be different? A faith anchored in the results of this life is like hanging your anchor in the water. A faith anchored in the permanent promises of Scripture is immovable.

If you have faith in Jesus, you are guaranteed to be resurrected one day. Your new body will be incorruptible, no longer subject to weakness or death. You will be dwelling in the Creator’s presence forever. Just like the repentant rebel on the cross, you will reside in a permanent paradise. You’ll be reunited with your loved ones. God guarantees to wipe every tear from your eyes. You will have no more pain.

These are permanent promises for every believer. This is the rock in which we anchor, the same common ground realized by the friends I mentioned earlier in the face of life’s tempest.

It wasn’t all a slog for the hall-of-famers mentioned in Hebrews 11, not even close. They “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (vv. 33-34, NIV). You’ll experience victory on this side of eternity.

But they were also tortured, flogged, jeered, imprisoned, killed by the sword and persecuted. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground (vv. 35-38). How on earth could they hold onto such a steadfast faith? They knew this watery world was not worthy of their anchor!

Make a consistent practice of lowering your faith anchor past the circumstances of this life and into the rock bed further below. Blessings will come to fruition, and we praise the Lord when they do. At other times, we may be forced to look at them from a distance, and we praise the Lord when we are. As Tim Keller also says, “One day, everything sad is going to come untrue.”

Work daily to “Anchor your faith in the right place.”