Buoys and Anchors
What will I hold onto moving into 2020? We are living in a time of tremendous change, not only technologically but in every field and industry around us. We also live in a time when theology and spiritual understanding is being challenged, ground up and regurgitated in various forms. Frankly it is very healthy to question theology and faith. We’ll never grow if we fail to closely examine our beliefs and spiritual dogmas. But in the process we must be careful to, and forgive my use of this old expression, not throw the baby out with the bath water.
Let me compare it to buoys and anchors. Buoys float and there are times we latch onto spiritual buoys to keep us afloat. I grew up in the midst of spiritual legalism. Some felt it was a sin to go to the movies or dance or wear jewelry or any other number of outward behaviors and expressions. Although they wouldn’t define them as such, these legalistic beliefs acted as buoys keeping them afloat in a sea of worldliness in which they didn’t want to drown. However, any buoy worth its while is anchored: otherwise it would be carried away by every current that comes its way. Our mistake is when we confuse buoys with anchors. While I may not latch onto the same buoy to which others cling, we may be linked to the same anchor…Jesus.
There are lots of spiritual currents in today’s culture. Some seem inviting and extremely tolerant while others seem intolerant. Interestingly some of what is Biblically based is often deemed intolerant. Some buoys, whether they are Biblically sound or not, are valuable in the lives of many. While I don’t adhere to legalistic behavior, it has in fact kept some spiritually afloat. Those stringent rules kept them on track. Of course legalism also led to forms of behavior like spiritual arrogance, judgmental conclusions, and/or small thinking. For some, their buoys became their anchors and they clung to them more tightly than they did to a growing relationship with Christ. They perceived the buoy as what kept them anchored.
I am speaking generally, but some issues in life are difficult to deal with because those issues take on personalities. It is difficult to address some sins when the sinner is your son or daughter or friend. We are tempted to allow their sin to become their buoy because we perceive that any change in their behavior would cause them to sink. I’ve heard people argue that their friend needs those drugs or stolen goods or immoral relationships to keep them afloat right now. People are afraid to address homosexuality when it is no longer an “issue” but a family member or friend. This issue has become divisive in the church and society deems anyone not on board with condoning it as intolerant and hateful. This baffles me on many fronts, but I’m puzzled how a culture which claims truth is relative to the person can label any opinion as wrong. But that’s another subject.
For now, I’m asking, to what do I need to cling? For me…it’s Jesus. I want to know Him more deeply and profoundly than ever. There are buoys in my life…but I want to make sure they are anchored to Christ. The spiritual paradox is I won’t sink when I hold tightly to Christ as my anchor. But, holding to a wrong buoy will cause me to sink spiritually. Don’t confuse your buoys with your anchor.
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” Jonah 2:8
