"16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Hebrews 6:16-20
It is significant that the Apostle's word here about hope being as an anchor of the soul follows upon the discussion of the possibility of 'falling away' or being weak and wavering in faith. This picture from the sea and the ships and the storms is a well-chosen one. These early Christians were certainly storm-tossed, and subject to various pressures that were like to bring their faith into jeopardy. And the Apostle's advice is: "Fix your eyes on the hope that is set before you: that will steady you and keep you unmoveable whatever the storms that beat upon you". Reference has already been made to Israel's failure at Kadesh Barnea. By this token we may fairly say that if only they had fixed their hearts upon God's promises to them of Canaan rest and blessedness, they would have been steadied on that critical day when the spies brought back the adverse report from the land. This is one of the more important lessons, not only of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but also of the New Testament itself. For wherever the hope of glory, the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord and the fulness and consummation of His Kingdom, is spoken of, it is spoken of as an incentive and encouragement to holy and steadfast living. There is nothing in the world so practical, rightly understood and grasped, as the doctrine of the last things. It is certainly true, both in the life of the Church and in the individual, that as and when our real hope is fixed upon things to come our lives will be steadied and given a certain quality and one might say, stability, which nothing will shake. To know that our real life is hid with Christ in God is to know that even in the deepest distresses we have nothing to worry about in this life, for life here is but an incident to be lived certainly with a due sense of responsibility, but always in the recognition that it is but the preface or prelude to the timeless life that is in God. That is one of the meanings of 'entering within the veil'. Have you cast this anchor in the storms of life?