1 CORINTHIANS 15:58 KJV

Therefore My Beloved Brethren, Be Ye Steadfast, Unmovable, Always Abounding In The Work Of The Lord, Forasmuch As Ye  Know That Your Labour Is Not In Vain In The Lord.

In recent times I have rediscovered how very important it is to have your personal faith anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the summer, I went with my family to the beach.  The particular beach I visited was a fisherman’s haven and so it had fishing boats in the vicinity. One boat in particular caught my attention immediately.  The boat was a strong vessel, built to handle storms, to bring back both the fishermen and the catch safely to shore. However, this boat had seen one storm too many.  It was badly weathered: the paint chipped, the masts  twisted, abandoned, deserted, in a state of disrepair and it had effectively lost its usefulness.  Soon we realized that this weathered boat had also lost its anchor and so was slowly drifting out to the open seas unrestrained. 

This image of the once successful boat that lost both its usefulness and its anchor was brought forcefully to my mind recently by novels, conversations and a documentary.  All three in different ways showed how persons exchanged the truth of God in Jesus Christ as the anchor for their souls for the lies of self-worship and worship of creation instead of the Creator. What struck me the most, was this happened slowly over time as persons drifted away from the truth which was replaced by deceit as it found its way into their hearts and minds disguised as truth.

Like the boat in disrepair, it is possible to be so caught up in doing the work of the Lord that we neglect of our intimate relationship with God the Father, God Jesus the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  When we neglect our relationship with God we lose our bearings, our anchor, our ability to prevent drifting into the open seas of lies, deception and self-worship.  We will have a form of godliness but it will only be a form with no substance to it.

This has made me realise again the importance of knowing Jesus as the way, truth and life for yourself, of being rooted and grounded in the word of God and being on our guard for the attacks of the enemy satan as he looks for opportune times to reach us.  What I like about our role model Jesus is that he often withdrew from ministry in order to be replenished by his Heavenly Father.  This allowed him to be effective, to be sure what his assignments were and how they were to be carried out. Notice that when He was about to die he said ‘it is finished’.  He did not drift from his work or fell into the trap of temptation even though He had several opportunities to do so. What about us? Do we know what we believe?  Are we being guided by God’s truth?  Are we paying attention to the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, listening to God for direction, chewing on, meditating and digesting the Word of God? Are we anchored to the truth or slowly drifting away?

Prayer

Lord, we come back to you repenting of our sins of drifting away from your truth in the quest to be open-minded.  Reveal the lies that are lodging in our hearts masquerading as truth.  You are the only way, the only truth and the only life.  Give us the balance we need in our relationship with you so that we realise that our relationship with you is more important than losing ourselves in church work.  Help us to be steadfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord.  In Jesus name. Amen.