Do The Anchors Still Hold?
Our music minister, Scott
Glass, sang one of my favorites last Sunday morning, "The Anchor
Holds." I have often thought about the concept of anchors and how they
affect our lives.
Among others, two important anchors
are our faith in a living God and our allegiance to upholding the
precepts of governing as outlined in the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights. We have willingly tethered our culture to these anchors.
Anchors are "a reliable or principal support, a mainstay, or something
that serves to hold an object firmly" (Webster’s) in place.
Anchors
protect families. Without a faith anchor, families are tossed about in
a sea of competing ideologies and godless philosophies. For several
centuries most Americans held the Bible and its wisdom as a high
standard for behavior, and, thus, it served as a cultural anchor. Not
all citizens were dedicated church-goers or strict in their observance
of Biblical guidelines, but most recognized that the wisdom of the
Bible was an anchor in people’s lives; it offered absolutes and values
that were necessary for a growing nation to survive. It defined
personal integrity, and it inspired our forefathers.
Today,
faith in Jesus Christ is still an anchor for many people. The anchor
of faith in God and His Word keeps us tethered to truth and helps us
ride out the storms of life and throw a life-preserver to others who
have no anchor. In addition to our faith, the Constitution and Bill of
Rights serve as anchors and a protection against unrelenting winds
that pressure us to change the course of our nation. Without the anchor
of a national commitment to a strict interpretation of our founding
documents, our country is at risk of being washed onto the "rocks of
internationalism and globalism"–producing a diluted form of government
guided only by the whims of the elite and powerful of any nation.
The
Constitution and the Bill of Rights documents tether us to a solid
foundation of government. Our form of government, though not perfect,
is definitely superior to the vast collection of systems around the
world. This anchor is being gradually pulled in. There are those among
us who no longer see the need for a sovereign America with its own
exemplary system. They are willing to pull anchor and allow America to
drift into a churning whirlpool of systems, no longer distinct in
culture, faith, or vision. We talk of the need for assimilating new
immigrants into our culture; they think in terms of assimilating
America into the global community where conformity is the ultimate
goal. God forbid!
Pray that our anchors hold.
I started this post in Sept. of 2007. I'm still working on it. Please excuse my clumsy attempt at using an analogy.
