Anchored (blog)

"Is your faith your anchor?" my friend asked me recently.Her question is a vivid reminder to me that yes, when trouble and storm toss me around my faith keeps me secure.  Faith in my Savior Jesus Christ steadies me at all times.But what does that anchor look like, exactly?The pastor of my church, and many pastors, welcome people attending worship services with the words, "Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."  It's an ancient and time-honored way for Christians to greet one another.  The Apostle Paul used it in his Epistle letters to the early Christian churches, which are recorded in The Bible.Imagine finding a package on your front porch addressed to you from God.  Would you open it?  What would you expect to find?  Grace?  Mercy?  Peace?Anyone who reads the news on any given day might not expect to find these things from a God who is just.  The world is in trouble and we are in it!  When we take an honest look at ourselves we see that, though most of us don't make headlines, we all do bad things and hurt other people."...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Rome (Romans 3:23).  That means that no one is truly worthy of God's grace, mercy and peace.Now imagine that your box from God isn't just waiting by your door, but that he stands there himself holding it out to you.  That's what Jesus is all about, God in person, the Savior come to offer you an anchor in life:  God's grace, mercy and peace, given to you.Would you trust that?  Would you open the door for him?  Or would you run and hide in your bedroom closet?Paul goes on in his letter to the Romans to say that, though we have all sinned, we are all "justified freely by his (God's) grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (3:24).  That's what Easter is all about, how Jesus died for the sins of all people and then rose again to life so that we can be forgiven by God and saved by him, and held secure in the promise of eternal life with him.Jesus said that eternal life is knowing him and knowing God through him (John 17:3).  We begin to know Jesus through his words recorded in The Bible, and through his Church.The amazing and wonderful thing about God, and his great gift to us, is that he is not only just but he also justifies us himself through our faith in Jesus.  He is good and kind, and his unmerited kindness leads us to be sorry for our sins, and turn from them to him in faith.  At church we talk about how our sins and suffering serve to remind us daily that Jesus is our anchor, and that we can turn to him again and again in faith, for grace, mercy and peace from God.Jesus wants to have that kind of close, personal relationship with each one of us.He wants to love and care for us, now and forever.