Daily devotion- Strangers and pilgrims are we!
Pilgrims Together
Ephesians 1:4 — “…that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ and you sometimes have a constant sense of being out of place—of not quite fitting in, of feeling different from the world around you—don’t be troubled by it.
In many ways, that is exactly how we should feel.
God has called us to be “holy and without blame before Him in love.” We belong to Christ, and therefore we are no longer to find our identity, our purpose or our satisfaction in a world that is fallen and opposed to God.
The ways of this world can make us uncomfortable. We speak differently, we think differently, we make different choices, and we live by a different standard.
Why?
Because we are citizens of another country.
Philippians 3:20 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Our true home is not here.
Hebrews 11 gives us a wonderful picture of believers who understood this. After describing many faithful men and women who lived by faith, the writer says:
Hebrews 11:13 — “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.”
Strangers and pilgrims.
That is who we are.
Abraham understood this. He was called by God to leave his country and go to a place he had never seen. He obeyed God, not knowing where he was going.
Hebrews 11:8–10 tells us:
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going… for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Abraham lived in tents, even in the land of promise. He had no permanent home here because he was looking for something greater.
He was looking beyond this world.
And perhaps that is what some of us need to understand about the uneasiness we sometimes feel living in this fallen world.
Don’t fight it. Let it remind you where you belong.
This world is not our final destination. We are passing through.
The Apostle John warns us:
1 John 2:15–16 — “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. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”
We are in this world, but we are not to be of this world.
And this is why Christian fellowship is so important.
We need one another.
We need to gather with God’s people. We need the preaching and teaching of His Word. We need prayer. We need encouragement. We need brothers and sisters who understand the journey because they are pilgrims too.
When we gather as the church, we are reminded that we are not alone. There are others who have also chosen to follow Christ, others who feel the tension of living in a fallen world while longing for a perfect home.
One day, this journey will be over.
One day, the pilgrim road will end.
One day, we will no longer feel like strangers in a foreign land because we will be home—in the presence of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
So, Christian, if you sometimes feel that you don’t fit in here, take heart.
Perhaps it is because you were never meant to fit comfortably into this world.
We are pilgrims together.
And we are heading home.