As Children of God we should be longing for the time when we will no longer have to suffer the slings and arrows of this life here. This will be the last post on this topic and I want you to consider the following points and examine for yourself as to whether you are on the right track and that your journey is on the right path.
"Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Pet. 2:11- 12).
A sojourner is someone who has taken up temporary residence in a place. Today, some one may go to a foreign country to live for a couple of years with the intent of returning home. This person is a sojourner. But, if the person does not intend to return home and becomes a citizen of the foreign country, he is not sojourning.
God's people have always considered mortal life a sojourning and pilgrimage (Gen. 47:9; Ps. 119:54; Heb. 11:13-16). If you are a child of God, you too must be a sojourner since this world is not your home.
There are four aspects of a Christian's sojourning. First, most details of our homeland have not been revealed. We are pilgrims upon the earth journeying to our eternal home in faith. None of us has seen heaven. We only have vague glimpses of the home we long to obtain at the end of this journey. By faith we remain on our journey and are not deterred by uncertainty (Heb. 11:8).
Second, we do not always understand everything that happens along our journey. Put yourself in Noah's shoes. It had never rained upon the earth and God commanded Noah to build an ark because He was going to cause it to rain and destroy the earth. How perplexing this must have been. Noah may have wondered: What is rain? What does rain look like and feel like? How will it destroy the earth?
Also consider Daniel. He was a great prophet of God. God gave him an end time prophesy to record for future generations. Although he spoke and recorded the words, he did not understand the meaning. He says: "Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, 'My Lord, what shall be the end of these things?' And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end'" (Dan. 12:8-9). So, we do not always understand the things that happen along our journey. Like Daniel, we trust in the Lord, obey His word, and remain confident that we will receive the promise.
Third, our pilgrimage requires sacrifice. As an athlete must sacrifice to condition his body, we must also sacrifice to discipline our body and bring it into subjection. Using this metaphor, Paul says: "Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified" (1 Cor. 9:26-27). Jesus said: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul" (Matt. 16:24-26)?
Fourth, faith keeps us on our journey to heaven. Having presented Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah as faithful pilgrims, Paul says: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland" (Heb. 11:13-14).
Don't look at the end of time as something to be missed look at it as your final destination to freedom for ever in the Lord.
