SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                               1124

“Sojourners and Pilgrims”

I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. – 1 Peter 2:11

I remember the first time I had to surrender my passport when travelling to Japan. It really bothered me to let go of what I felt was my link back to my homeland. I was a sojourner there and it indeed was a strange land for a country boy from Maine.

A sojourner is a person who resides temporarily in a place. I am a sojourner on the earth; – Psalm 119:19

The word ‘exiles’ in our reference Scripture is sometimes translated as ‘strangers’ or ‘pilgrims’. A Pilgrim is someone who is on a spiritual journey. As Christians, we are on such a journey. We are pilgrims travelling through a strange land as we live temporarily on this earth. Our true home is in heaven and we have the deposit of the Holy Spirit as our ‘passport’ link to our heavenly homeland.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. – Philippians 3:20 – 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

We have to not only get our mind but also our heart set on the fact that we are not to love the world or the things of the world to the detriment of our relationship with Jesus.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; – 1 John 2:15

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. – Matthew 6:19-20

As sojourners and pilgrims we are also ambassadors for Christ, empowered by His Holy Spirit to bring the Gospel message to those who need to hear it by our words and life example.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. – 2 Corinthians 5:20

This Christmas season, set aside the materialism that has taken over the holiday and reflect on the fact that Jesus came to redeem the world. He came to show us the way to return to our true home. He showed us what it is like to be a sojourner and a pilgrim here on earth.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. – John 17:14-15

May you hold the things of this world loosely while maintain a firm grasp of our Lord’s hand as He leads and guides us through this life and eventually to our eternal home with Him.