Anchored In The Lord
Anchored In The Lord
Tuesday, March 05, 2024
Hebrews 6:19-20 (NLT) 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Quality of life, not standard of living.
It is sad and heartbreaking that the most blessed people are often the most unsatisfied.
The term Quality refers to an inherent feature, a peculiar and essential character, an attribute that makes a thing fundamentally unlike any other.
Standard has to do with measurements and comparisons.
Adam and Eve had a perfect life. Their quality of life was excellent, until they changed and caused a change. They used to be believers in God, but they changed when they chose to believe the serpent instead of God.
Warren Buffet said statistically, the poorest 5% of Americans today enjoy a higher standard of life than John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller was the richest man in the world in his own time.
Our perceived quality of life is determined mostly by our internal thoughts. Our standard of living is determined by our comparison to a “standard” we have chosen to use as a measure.
Adam and Eve lived in paradise. They lacked for nothing. They had an excellent quality of life.
They were satisfied until the serpent asked them to compare their life to a standard they had never heard of. Once we start down the road of comparison, we are headed for trouble.
The serpent compared Adam and Eve's standard, not quality of life to a made-up standard. It was an irrelevant standard. It was an unachievable standard. God is the Creator. They were His creations. They were already as much like God, as He wanted them to be. They could never become wise like God. This impossible and imaginary standard was what Lucifer set up for himself.
Isaiah 14:13-14 (NLT) 13 For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. 14 I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’
1. Looking for approval? Look to the Lord.
The hunger in our souls can be satisfied only by God.
Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee. St. Augustine of Hippo
Psalms 42:1-11 (NLT) 1 For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? 3 Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?” 4 My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration! 5 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again-- my Savior and 6 my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you-- even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. 7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. 8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. 9 “O God my rock,” I cry, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?” 10 Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?” 11 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again-- my Savior and my God!
2. If God is not enough, then we must be lusting for the wrong things.
Psalms 106:13-15 (NKJV) 13 They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, 14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. 15 And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.
Psalm 34:4-5
They looked to Him and their faces were enlightened.
3. Am I where God wants me to be spiritually, financially, emotionally, etc.
Hebrews 6:19-20 (NLT) 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
The Lord provides an anchor for our souls. We must be grounded and rooted in the Lord. If we weigh our anchor we will drift away. The Lord must always be our reference point, not our mates, or our family or society.
Those who did not make you do not know and cannot determine where you ought to be, what you ought to have or ought to be doing. You are uniquely created. God knows what you were made for. God sent leanness to their souls because they did not desire the right things. He had to do that so that their dissatisfaction would make them return to Him.
4. Two kinds of change… effect and cause.
Effectual change is that which happens to you and the causal change is that which you make happen. Somebody else is responsible for the effectual changes in your life. You are fully responsible for the changes you cause. The changes you cause are both internal and external. Internally, you make up your mind to become a different person. Then you act out your new personality and cause effects for yourself and for others.
Psalms 34:1-22 (ESV) Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. 11 Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 12 What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
