Attitude of Pilgrims and Sojourners

UV 526/10,000 Hebrews 11 v 13 Attitude of Pilgrims and Sojourners “These all died, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.” People take so much trouble to secure for themselves and their children a bright future for 40 to 80 years but do so little to secure the rest of eternity. The best of us have a hidden and not so hidden pride and confidence in our possessions, our titles and positions, our talents and abilities , our connections and our accomplishments. But, the men and women of faith listed in Hebrews chapter 11 considered this phase on earth a temporary existence. Their perspective was eternal. They confessed that this world is not their permanent home. It is a strange place they are passing by en route to their permanent or eternal home. Though they died before they saw the fulfillment of the promises they received, they believed that God is faithful and will certainly reward their faith. We, too as people of faith should not pitch our tents with the stakes running so deep that we cannot pull it out at a short notice. Instead, we must daily confess our status as pilgrims and travelers and look forward to the hope of the promises the Lord has spoken into our lives in diverse ways. It is that hope that should keep our attitudes buoyant in every circumstance. Our confidence is not in the things of the world that the Lord has blessed us with or we desire to have but our trust is in His Word. Like a pilgrim, we should look forward eagerly to our ultimate heavenly destiny and destination. We should keep our lives and habits clean and pure. Like a traveler or sojourner, we should be always ready to go or move to our next transit point. Our attitude should not just be the philosophical, ‘ this too shall pass away..” but “ this promise that the Lord has given me will be fulfilled” sometimes in time, sometimes after some time and sometimes beyond time in the realm of eternity. We must be convinced without an iota of doubt that the Lord is able to fulfill every promise beyond our imagination or our asking or our expectations. We need to believe that He is mindful and faithful to every word of His promises. As pilgrims, we need to travel light with minimum of fears, disappointments, grudges, bitterness, illusions and other hindering emotional baggage. Prateep V Philip