Anchors To The Soul
Anchors To The Soul
In Romans 12, the Apostle Paul writes “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul connects transformation with the mind, and that transformation keeps us from the poison of “this world”. Our thoughts give birth to emotions which then give birth to actions. When we root our thoughts in worldly thinking, our emotions, then our actions, soon follow, and when that happens a great sickness of the soul ensues. What we put into our mind and what we focus our mind on is of paramount importance. Living in a fallen world with a remaining sin nature, we often times fall into periods of fear, depression, frustration, anger, and (in some extreme cases) hopelessness. How does the Christian combat such seasons? The answer is in Paul’s words in Romans 12—it begins in the mind. We must constantly be recalibrating our mind toward Gospel truth: Who God is, Who we are in Christ, How incredibly bright our future is. Martin Luther once said, “Preach the Gospel to yourself ever day”. Luther believed (rightly) that reminding ourselves of the great treasures found in Christ would renew our mind and keep us from falling prey to the seasons of negative and destructive emotions. Martyn Lloyd-Jones had these words: “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.” Lloyd-Jones’ point is that the thoughts that come from our nature, our still-fallen nature, often cloud our minds from being refreshed by Gospel truth, setting us on the negative, faithless track. His suggestion: Stop listening to yourself and preach to yourself. Lloyd-Jones then points to Psalm 42:11 as a wonderful example of that:
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Preaching truth to yourself consistently throughout the day is essential. I often teach that we need to have a set of “anchors” that we fix our mind on for that refreshment, things we fix the ship of our souls to so that we will be immovable in the wind and waves of the storm. Because of the nature of our fallen world, we can rest assured that the storms will come. It’s not a matter of “if”, but of “when”. In our study of Mary this past Sunday, we highlighted three phrases that she spoke in response to the revelation that she would be carrying the Lord of Glory in her womb. We then took some time to dissect what Mary would have needed to believe about God utter such things. Her beliefs about God fueled her emotions, which overflowed into actions (in this case, words). Those truths about God that Mary believed were her anchors, and they should be our anchors as well. The first saying we examined was, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). What a wonderful proclamation of submission and surrender to the Lord and His will, particularly in the face of some earthly circumstances that Mary would have to face given her pregnancy before marriage. To say such words Mary had to be convinced of both God’s sovereignty and His goodness. She trusted that God would make everything okay, as He had the absolute power and authority to do so, and that how He worked things out would be good. He was the One who chose for this to come upon Mary. Only good was coming. As hard as it may have been to see that in the moment, Mary chose to walk by faith in that. God is sovereign and good, so “let it be to me according to your word”. She preached that to herself, we could be assured. We must constantly be preaching such an anchor to ourselves as well. Through memorized Scripture passages or favorite Gospel-centered songs or just meditating on the Gospel (Christ’s death adopting us into the family of a most-loving Father), we must fight to get our minds back to the fact that God is both sovereign and good when the storms of life are upon us. Then, in response to that truth, we must fully entrust ourselves to Him, walking by faith in Him and
who He is. When we walk by such faith, the peace of God abides on us and the anchor stops the ship from being carried away by the wind. The next phase we looked at was, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.” (Luke 1:46-48). To proclaim such a glorious truth, Mary had to connect the magnification of the Lord (making Him “look big”, giving Him the spot of preeminence in her soul) with rooting her joy in Him. All too often we fall prey to seeking out joy in something else, something or someone that we allow to have preeminence in our lives, chasing more and more in the belief that such pursuit will end in joy. Seeking joy is not sinful. The seeking of joy is part of our imagebearing. We bear the image of a happy, joyful God. The issue is where we seek to have that joy fulfilled. All other sources of joy other than God never quench, never satisfy. Rather, they lure, they entice, they promise “just a little more and you’ll have that joy”, but in reality you never will get that “little more” that satisfies and brings joy. We were created to by joyful, and we were created to find that joy in our Creator alone. Devoting more and more of your life to experiencing more and more of God will yield joy, joy that can not be shaken by trial and circumstance. Use the means of grace that He has appointed to draw nearer to Him: Scripture, prayer, mediation on the Word/Gospel, fellowship with the brethren, corporate worship, the Lord’s Supper. As we miss out on those appointed means, our joy-seeking nature looks to be fulfilled elsewhere, and the bankrupt promises grow more enticing. Missing joy? Come, then, to the fount that never goes dry, at whose right hand are pleasures forever more (Psalm 16:11), your Creator God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must anchor ourselves to such truth. Lastly, we examined Mary’s words found in Luke 1:49, “for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name”. God’s faithfulness, never failing, fueled Mary’s faith going forward. To be able to say such a thing by faith, one must first take time to realize God’s unswerving goodness towards them throughout their lives. They must remind themselves that God has done great things for them, is doing great things for them, and will do great things for them, all because He loves them, as a tender-hearted Father loves His child. Christians must take time to look in the rearview and stand in awe at the remarkable, purposeful work of God in their lives. Not one moment wasted. Not one moment
not for our good. He gets much glory when we stop and thankfully acknowledge such things. We must then connect those awesome works to His wonderful, plenteous love for us. Assurance of such love, wonderfully displayed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, must be one of the anchor truths we are constantly preaching to ourselves. Walking by faith in the truth of God’s love should make us bold as we seek to face the many difficulties of this world. We walk boldly knowing we have a loving God who is for us, He’s shown Himself mighty and faithful at every step in the past, and live boldly and radically going forward trusting that He’s not going to begin failing now! What a safety net! He’s perfect. He cannot fail. Trust that. Walk by faith and that. And live like that. Like Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, we need to stop listening to ourselves and start talking to ourselves. Of equal importance is what we are saying to ourselves. We must be refreshing our minds, countering negative thoughts, and nourishing our souls in Gospel truth, in anchoring truths about who God is and who we are in Christ. We are way too blessed to allow the circumstances of this world to steal our joy, our boldness, and our hope.
In Romans 12, the Apostle Paul writes “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul connects transformation with the mind, and that transformation keeps us from the poison of “this world”. Our thoughts give birth to emotions which then give birth to actions. When we root our thoughts in worldly thinking, our emotions, then our actions, soon follow, and when that happens a great sickness of the soul ensues. What we put into our mind and what we focus our mind on is of paramount importance. Living in a fallen world with a remaining sin nature, we often times fall into periods of fear, depression, frustration, anger, and (in some extreme cases) hopelessness. How does the Christian combat such seasons? The answer is in Paul’s words in Romans 12—it begins in the mind. We must constantly be recalibrating our mind toward Gospel truth: Who God is, Who we are in Christ, How incredibly bright our future is. Martin Luther once said, “Preach the Gospel to yourself ever day”. Luther believed (rightly) that reminding ourselves of the great treasures found in Christ would renew our mind and keep us from falling prey to the seasons of negative and destructive emotions. Martyn Lloyd-Jones had these words: “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.” Lloyd-Jones’ point is that the thoughts that come from our nature, our still-fallen nature, often cloud our minds from being refreshed by Gospel truth, setting us on the negative, faithless track. His suggestion: Stop listening to yourself and preach to yourself. Lloyd-Jones then points to Psalm 42:11 as a wonderful example of that:
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Preaching truth to yourself consistently throughout the day is essential. I often teach that we need to have a set of “anchors” that we fix our mind on for that refreshment, things we fix the ship of our souls to so that we will be immovable in the wind and waves of the storm. Because of the nature of our fallen world, we can rest assured that the storms will come. It’s not a matter of “if”, but of “when”. In our study of Mary this past Sunday, we highlighted three phrases that she spoke in response to the revelation that she would be carrying the Lord of Glory in her womb. We then took some time to dissect what Mary would have needed to believe about God utter such things. Her beliefs about God fueled her emotions, which overflowed into actions (in this case, words). Those truths about God that Mary believed were her anchors, and they should be our anchors as well. The first saying we examined was, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). What a wonderful proclamation of submission and surrender to the Lord and His will, particularly in the face of some earthly circumstances that Mary would have to face given her pregnancy before marriage. To say such words Mary had to be convinced of both God’s sovereignty and His goodness. She trusted that God would make everything okay, as He had the absolute power and authority to do so, and that how He worked things out would be good. He was the One who chose for this to come upon Mary. Only good was coming. As hard as it may have been to see that in the moment, Mary chose to walk by faith in that. God is sovereign and good, so “let it be to me according to your word”. She preached that to herself, we could be assured. We must constantly be preaching such an anchor to ourselves as well. Through memorized Scripture passages or favorite Gospel-centered songs or just meditating on the Gospel (Christ’s death adopting us into the family of a most-loving Father), we must fight to get our minds back to the fact that God is both sovereign and good when the storms of life are upon us. Then, in response to that truth, we must fully entrust ourselves to Him, walking by faith in Him and
who He is. When we walk by such faith, the peace of God abides on us and the anchor stops the ship from being carried away by the wind. The next phase we looked at was, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.” (Luke 1:46-48). To proclaim such a glorious truth, Mary had to connect the magnification of the Lord (making Him “look big”, giving Him the spot of preeminence in her soul) with rooting her joy in Him. All too often we fall prey to seeking out joy in something else, something or someone that we allow to have preeminence in our lives, chasing more and more in the belief that such pursuit will end in joy. Seeking joy is not sinful. The seeking of joy is part of our imagebearing. We bear the image of a happy, joyful God. The issue is where we seek to have that joy fulfilled. All other sources of joy other than God never quench, never satisfy. Rather, they lure, they entice, they promise “just a little more and you’ll have that joy”, but in reality you never will get that “little more” that satisfies and brings joy. We were created to by joyful, and we were created to find that joy in our Creator alone. Devoting more and more of your life to experiencing more and more of God will yield joy, joy that can not be shaken by trial and circumstance. Use the means of grace that He has appointed to draw nearer to Him: Scripture, prayer, mediation on the Word/Gospel, fellowship with the brethren, corporate worship, the Lord’s Supper. As we miss out on those appointed means, our joy-seeking nature looks to be fulfilled elsewhere, and the bankrupt promises grow more enticing. Missing joy? Come, then, to the fount that never goes dry, at whose right hand are pleasures forever more (Psalm 16:11), your Creator God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must anchor ourselves to such truth. Lastly, we examined Mary’s words found in Luke 1:49, “for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name”. God’s faithfulness, never failing, fueled Mary’s faith going forward. To be able to say such a thing by faith, one must first take time to realize God’s unswerving goodness towards them throughout their lives. They must remind themselves that God has done great things for them, is doing great things for them, and will do great things for them, all because He loves them, as a tender-hearted Father loves His child. Christians must take time to look in the rearview and stand in awe at the remarkable, purposeful work of God in their lives. Not one moment wasted. Not one moment
not for our good. He gets much glory when we stop and thankfully acknowledge such things. We must then connect those awesome works to His wonderful, plenteous love for us. Assurance of such love, wonderfully displayed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, must be one of the anchor truths we are constantly preaching to ourselves. Walking by faith in the truth of God’s love should make us bold as we seek to face the many difficulties of this world. We walk boldly knowing we have a loving God who is for us, He’s shown Himself mighty and faithful at every step in the past, and live boldly and radically going forward trusting that He’s not going to begin failing now! What a safety net! He’s perfect. He cannot fail. Trust that. Walk by faith and that. And live like that. Like Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, we need to stop listening to ourselves and start talking to ourselves. Of equal importance is what we are saying to ourselves. We must be refreshing our minds, countering negative thoughts, and nourishing our souls in Gospel truth, in anchoring truths about who God is and who we are in Christ. We are way too blessed to allow the circumstances of this world to steal our joy, our boldness, and our hope.
