Anchor and Foundation

There was big news in the online gaming world this week when it was announced a live-service game had run its course and would no longer be updated.  For over a decade this game was popular enough to support careers of many content creators who played, discussed, analysed and critiqued the game they thoroughly enjoyed.  When the news hit, there was one content creator who sat in silence as he processed what this meant for him personally.  Moved by emotion, his observations were insightful of how important the game had been in his life.  He compared the game to an "anchor" and a "foundation" he could always return to, and with the game ceasing development he expressed fear about what the future held for him.

I don't know if he realised it or not, but the honest, raw realisation of the YouTuber is a microcosm of everyone who puts their trust and reliance in things of this world that are surely passing away.  He came to a conclusion people sometimes found on a deathbed, that they have given their trust and affections to what cannot help, save or comfort them.  Money, fame and celebrity never loved them like they loved and desired those things they invested everything for.  Like the foolish man Jesus spoke of who heard what He said but did not obey Him, all they worked for and built was on a foundation of sand that would never be able to endure the storms of this life.  His labour and sacrifices would come to nothing in the end.  While painful at the time, it is good for our sakes to admit the complete failure of what we looked to as our anchor or foundation proved to be unworthy of such confidence.  No game, hobby, career, person or anything of this world can fill that spot for humanity:  that is the rightful place of Jesus Christ alone.

Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 7:24-25, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock."  Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone, the Rock of Salvation we can safely build our lives upon today and always--not just on earth, but forever in heavenly glory.  The writer of Hebrews made the point Christians can be doubly confident because God who does lie has sworn with an oath that all who have fled to Jesus for refuge, forgiveness and eternal life have a confident expectation in Christ our Saviour that is "an an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast..." (Hebrews 6:18-20).  We do not need to worry about the future or how we will live, for God who loves and saves us knows our needs and is able to meet them.  We are no longer at the mercy of stormy winds and waves, for we are anchored in Christ, experiencing peace and rest in His perfect love.

This world and everything in it will pass away, but God's word will never pass away.  People working today will be unemployed tomorrow.  Popular video games people build their careers upon will die, and our lives that seem so certain can also be gone in an instant.  What matters most is that we build our lives on the firm foundation only Jesus provides as we hear, obey and trust Him.  Only by Christ can we have an anchor for our souls where our planet and solar system hurtles through space at breakneck speed, and we find ourselves helpless to stop the onslaught of disappointments, troubles and pressures.  When the circumstances of life shock, trouble and shake us, it is good to examine our foundations once again.  It may be the place we thought was home and safe is teetering precariously without a solid foundation.  It is in Jesus we find rest for our souls, and blessed is the one who relies and looks to Him for life.