Some like to think that God will weight their good and bad deeds. That is not my hope! First of all, that is not how justice works. Our guilt or lack thereof, has nothing to do with whether we help little old ladies across the street or not. As for me, what I want when I die, is mercy not justice. If I had to wait until I die to find out if I was good enough for heaven, this hope would not be an anchor for my soul!
The Christian’s hope is an anchor, because it sets us free to be all that we can be. I discovered an illustration of this while rereading some of the books I read as a boy. I loved C. S. Forrester’s Hornblower series. In one particular novel, Hornblower was tasked with recovering gold from a sunken Galleon. The hot tempered surgeon had shot, in a dual, the Philippine diver who was the hope of this recovery. Hornblower told the surgeon that if the diver died, so would he. The surgeon, who needed to remove the bullet from the diver, implored Hornblower to release him from the threat. “If, at a critical point in the operation, I remember your threat,” he told Hornblower, “it could cause my hand to tremble, and what you intend to make me do my best, could be the very thing that brings failure!”
Hornblower in his wisdom, releases the surgeon, who is then set free to do his best. Likewise the Christian is set free from the threat of eternal judgement to do his or her very best. What was so impressive about my friend, was that although she was a deeply troubled individual she was, because of the hope within her, able many times by the power of the Holy Spirit to minister to others in a very loving and effective way.
Father, I thank you for the life of my friend who, in spite of her pain, was able to live out the reality of the hope within her. It was indeed an anchor for her soul. Help me so to live, in Jesus Name Amen
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