September 20

Our Sheet Anchor!

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. — Eph 4:14-15 BSB

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure. — 1 John 3:3 BSB

Our destiny is the highest possible: “We shall be like Him.” We were created, redeemed, and sanctified for this purpose—that we should be conformed to the image of God’s Son, so that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Rom 8:29).

The Apostle says that those who have this hope will purify themselves. I remember a young friend asking if I would meet her fiancé at a train station in a distant western state. It was a dark night, and as we briefly spoke on the platform, I found that despite the temptations of ranch life, he was holding fast to purity and truth. Though he had few opportunities to attend religious services, the letters from his fiancée were his anchor. Her love, prayers, and inspiring words kept him from yielding to the temptations around him, and the thought of soon claiming her as his bride gave him strength. In the same way, the hope of being with Christ, and like Him, should be our anchor as we bear His name.

To see Christ face to face, to be with Him in unbroken fellowship, and to be like Him—this is the threefold destiny of every Christian. But how little we can imagine about our future life! We try to peer through the mist in vain. What will our resurrection bodies be like? What will our conversation with holy beings be like? What ministry might we be assigned? We do not yet know what we will be, but “we know that we shall be like Him”—and that is enough! Everything we’ve dreamed and hoped for will find its fulfillment in that glorious time.

Prayer

O God, I earnestly desire not only to live but to grow: grow in grace and in the knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May I grow in patience, fortitude, humility, zeal, spirituality, and a heavenly disposition. Amen.