When I was a sailor aboard the U.S.S. Bagley in the 1970’s, we had an anchor and mooring lines. If she was anchored or moored to a pier, we were reasonably safe. If our engines died or were off and we were drifting, it could spell trouble. If I compare most people I know, or have observed from a distance, to my U.S. Navy experiences aboard the U.S.S. Bagley, they tend to fall into one of these categories:

Recently, as I have been studying Romans, I saw something by Martyn Lloyd-Jones that helps describe the way most view their lives. Why does a man or woman or child behave the way they do? There are three primary views: Contingency (everything is luck or lack thereof; random, accidental and haphazard) or Deterministic (everything is merely biological or psychological or “I don’t know why I feel this way but I do.”) or based on Certainty (God is in control. He is Sovereign, so I live accordingly with careful attention to what he has said.)

Matthew 28:16-20 has this to say about the Commander of my soul:

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

While many think God is a fable or someone who cannot be known, I have found anchoring my life to him and the truths of the Holy Scriptures is far better than drifting and depending on luck or my biological or psychological leanings. I also like the fact that my Commander doesn’t abandon me when the seas get rough.