The Lodestar

Hope drives life: those who lose hope for the future end their life. Even the beggar on the street, though the day’s collection is hardly enough to buy a loaf of bread, hopes that tomorrow will be better. The farmer staring at the failed crop hopes it will improve next year and compensate for this year's loss.

But mere hope alone is insufficient to pull on; often, hopes are just dreams, a confidence we project into the future. They may or may not materialise.

However, Christian hope is radically different. Christian hope is like an anchor that makes a ship steady in the storm. The sailors down the heavy anchor to the ocean floor, securing their shaky vessel. But if it lands on a muddy floor instead of bedrock, it is only a dead weight hanging from the ship.

Compared to an anchor that gives stability to Christian life, hope is anchored in the presence of Christ, the solid rock. It has landed in “the inner place” where Jesus, who defeated death by his resurrection, is seated in the Father's right hand.

The hymn writer expressed that hope in Christ is the perfect hope we can count on.

“My hope is built on nothing less. Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame. But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand”.