Stop Settling For Canned Spirituality

Hebrews 6:13-20

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷ So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. ¹⁹ We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Promise

Have you ever felt that life is completely underwhelming and hope has gone missing. I have experienced these discouraging days and remember them vividly because it was incredibly difficult to hold fast to the promises I knew God spoke into me. I jumped to quick assumptions that the promise I once heard was but a flash of hope, here one moment and gone the next. It is more difficult when we live in the instantaneous age. We are accustomed to getting what we want the fast way. Thankfully God does not give us canned spirituality. He takes the time to prepare a rich, flavorful, and fulfilling spirituality for each of his children just so long as we are patient enough to receive it.

So Who is God?

This is by no means a question that can be fully answered because He is the “I AM” (Exodus 3:13-14), the beginning and the end. I believe that the premise of this scripture must be founded on reverence for who God is, his character. God IS despite whether you believe him to be so or not. There was no one before him and there is no one after him. He swore to himself, because there is no one greater. He is unchangeable – perfect in all His ways and his word does not return to him empty, but will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purpose for which he sent it. (Isaiah 55:11). Matthew Henry describes humans as a “ship at sea, tossed up and down, and in danger of being cast away however the consolations of God are strong enough to support his people under their heaviest trials.”

How Do We Wait Patiently Before God?

I believe it is in communing with him daily. It is recognizing his presence amidst the everyday activities. And most crucial, it is in the waiting where we experience the intimacy of a relationship with our Maker. It is in the waiting that God deepens our communication with him and where He builds upon the foundations of our faith. He becomes not only Father to us he becomes friend. He is the ultimate dealer of hope in this world.

Abraham waited fervently and patiently before God, yet he did not wait alone. So often we isolate ourselves in the waiting – pushing away friends, family, and God as we become bitter for the lack of an instantaneous promise. However, rich joy can just as well be experienced in the anticipation and preparation of the promise ahead.

A Steadfast Anchor to Our Souls

This is a promise in and of itself. Christ not only promises to anchor our souls but also to be “the object and ground of our hope” (Matthew Henry). Anchor ourselves in anything else and we become– as Henry stated– a ship tossed at sea. The point of an anchor is to keep a ship from straying and to keep it from being tossed in a rough storm – it is not to stop a storm, it’s to keep the ship from be desolation. Therefore, Christ went as our predecessor, to prepare the way that we may have a deep and intimate relationship with God and anchored in the unchangeable God.

Transformed

My life has been transformed by experiencing and living in the love of a gracious God. He has received and redeemed me despite my imperfections and has provided me with the Anchor of Hope, Jesus Christ. To detach myself from that Anchor would be foolishness. When it comes to the unchangeable God who stood before all time, who spoke the universe into motion and who continues to breathe life into our body’s everyday, our lives can do nothing more than be transformed. I pray that each of our lives would be a unique testament of His transformative love, that we may be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).