“Jesus, The Anchor of the Soul”

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”  Hebrews 10:23 - 25 (NASB)

As I read the news of today, certain headlines catch my eye.  One that I noticed this week read: “Suicide attempts among young American adults on rise, study says.”  It caught my eye, not in a way most of you reading this would think.  It was not just the word “Suicide,” but the term “young American adults.”  

Of course, as I read the article, some of the numbers are staggering.  In the past 10 years, the study shows (study by JAMA Psychiatry) that suicide attempts have risen 3 quarters of a percent.  And they says the increase is in young adults between the ages of 21 to 34.  One other fact that I was unaware of that they shared in the article was more women attempt suicide than men.  This article states from data collected by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention that on average: 121 take their lives everyday in American, 44,000 annually. How sad this is!

So I said, “Young adults” caught my eye in the headline.  Here is why!  It is not that I am unaware of the suicide rates in America, but when we are showing the rise over the past 10 plus years is in young adults, what does that say?  And, does it have anything to do with faith/church?  Does it have anything to do with this age group’s mass exodus from the church?

In an article The Barna Group posted in March of this year, the millennials (this age group of 21 to 34) view the church this way: 30% see no reason to go to church, 40% waffle in the middle of whether church is important, and 30% say church is an important part of their life.  With these statistics it is safe to say that about 1/2 of millennials (this age group) do not see church, the gathering for corporate worship, as a necessity and without Jesus, I believe true HOPE is lost.

So I began to ask myself, is there any correlation between these two data points?  And my answer is yes!  The Hebrews writer reminds us that we are to hold fast to our confession of HOPE and not forsake our assembly together.  In chapter 6 of Hebrews we read:

“In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest…” Hebrews 6: 17 - 20 

If we forsake worship of God, see no importance of this gathered community for encouragement and growth, for love and care, a place where your HOPE in Christ is made stronger, then there is a piece of the soul missing.  This HOPE in Christ “anchors” our soul.  Without it, the world and Satan and all the ills of the world will try to fill that void.  And Satan’s ploy is to tell us we have NO HOPE!  Satan’s message is “Why live?” And so many buy into it!

Folks!  It is so important for all of us to NOT give up on church, on God, on our assembling to grow in HIM who is our anchor of the soul.  The church has to continue to look for ways to impact these new generations that are coming along for the sake of the gospel.  Our children’s ministries and youth ministries have to be talking about these things.  Our youth and young adults have to understand the importance of church, and not let that go by the wayside in their college years and beyond.  We have to teach about Jesus who will anchor your soul.  Let us all pray that these statistics will change and Jesus, the anchor of the soul, becomes the priority again!

Blessings folks, 

Pastor Marty Duffell

Pastor of HOPE Church Raleigh - Worship - Grow - Serve