Sidetracked Sojourners and Truckstop Pilgrims

1 Peter 2:11-12

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹²Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

If I am a pilgrim and sojourner simply passing through this world then why is it that I have become so settled and contented making myself at home? It is as if on my way to Disneyworld I stopped at a Motel 6 and became so fascinated with the kiddie pool that I forget the sheer wonder of my final destination!

“Sojourner” describes the relationship with where I am now along the road of sanctification. It implies constant movement and never settling in.

“Pilgrim” describes the relationship between where I am now and my final destination. A pilgrim has a destination in mind and stops at nothing to get there.

Along the journey from salvation to sanctification and onward to glorification in heaven, I must recognize that the desires of my flesh that once reigned unjustly over my body like Jadis over Narnia – those desires are in relentless pursuit of me, beckoning me to forget the destination and the One who awaits me there. Those desires beg me to return to the familiar land of complacency. As I travel I am fighting this war for my own soul and it is a fight for nobility which has been bestowed upon me by the King himself.

Many along my path will have no concept of my sojourn or the destination and they will be threatened by the passion with which I move through this decaying world. But I must maintain the King’s nobility and represent him well so that when he greets them with an invitation to join him, they will be encouraged by the memory of a pilgrim they once met along the way, and as a result join the only trustworthy pursuit in life- that of the Kingdom of God.