Paul ended the first section of his letter to Timothy by telling him of two men who shipwrecked their faith. What an interesting way to describe it! Paul knew something about shipwrecks. In 2nd Corinthians 11:25, he says he was shipwrecked three times. As I was thinking about this, the phrase “hold fast” kept coming to my mind. Hold fast is the motto of my husband’s mother’s side of the family. She was born a MacLeod, and when we visited Scotland several years ago, we saw it in many places.
You may be more familiar with seeing it as a tattoo, especially across the knuckles. Sailors have had the phrase tattooed on them for centuries, to remind each other to hold fast, to grab on to the rigging, or something solid, to prevent them from being swept overboard during storms or rough weather.
The phrase hold fast has taken on more than just a seafaring connotation. Today, if you hear someone say this, they are telling you to stand firm, to hold on to your beliefs and your values. This is especially important today when everything seems so upside down. And to use another nautical term, there is nothing to put our anchor in. Fortunately, the Bible has something to say about that! Today, I will be using the ESV. Let’s look at what we are holding fast to.
First, and most importantly, we see this in Deuteronomy 10:20. “You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.” Even though this was written to the Israelites in the wilderness, we are still to hold fast to God.
Another thing we should hold fast to is wise instruction. Proverbs 4:1-4 says, “Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.”
Moving on to the New Testament, I’ve picked a few more things. Paul tells us we are to hold on to the Word. “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2).
In several places, Paul tells us we are to hold on to what is good. “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9). In his first letter to the Thessalonians, “Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good” (5:20-21).
And while there is more, the last thing that I am going to write about is hope. We are to hold fast to hope. What hope is that? Remember our study on 1 Peter. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…” (1:3-4). Here are some verses from the book of Hebrews:
“…but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope” (3:6).
“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, 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” (6:17-18).
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (10:23)
I am going to leave you with these two definitions of hold fast:
~To stay in one place, defending your position.
~To hold on to your beliefs and values; to not waver from their convictions and the truth.
Now think about those definitions with the verses above.
Hold fast my friends and grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 