Moments ‘Til Midnight Blog Series: Part 1
Wandering Well…You were created for a journey.
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” Psalm 84:5
I believe there is a pilgrim in each of us that is just longing to go on a journey. Arguably, the greatest challenge facing us is to discover this identity, embrace it and unleash it with glorious celebration.
Helen Keller once said, “Life is a daring adventure . . . or nothing at all.”
We are part of that ancient tradition of people who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was infinitely more than a renegade rabbi from the backside of nowhere. And we believe in the depths of our souls that following Jesus is the daring adventure that makes up the pilgrimage of our lives. For we are pilgrims wandering on our way home.
You were created for such an endeavor, and to deprive life of this sense of pilgrimage is to miss out on so much of life’s purpose. I would go so far as to say that if you were to pause in the chaos of your present life, take a deep breath and read the Bible a bit, you would discover: a pilgrim you are, and a pilgrim you were meant to be. Therefore, the great challenge for us all, and the focus for the upcoming weeks, is to discover how to wander well.
The dictionary defines pilgrim as “a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion; a traveler or wanderer, especially in a foreign place.”1 While the definition is adequate, it is lacking for those who are on a journey of following Jesus. Possibly my favorite Scripture that describes who we are as pilgrims comes from Hebrews 11:13–16. Before reading these verses, we should know that the writer of Hebrews has spent the better part of the chapter describing and outlining Old Testament pilgrims who lived by faith and therefore were able to accomplish amazing things for God. The following verses are a description of those who believe in and greatly trust God with their lives.
Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.(Heb. 11:13–16, The Message)
The King James Version, in verse 13, called these people of faith “strangers and pilgrims on earth.” So much can be gained from this one text when defining a pilgrim, but hopefully one truth is overwhelmingly clear: people who place their faith in Jesus are pilgrims journeying through this world toward their heavenly home.
“pilgrim.” Dictionary.com. 2018 https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pilgrim (15 August 2018).
About Moments ‘Til Midnight:
In the biblical letter of 2 Timothy, the apostle Paul reflected on his passing life. It was but a vapor. He was a pilgrim, passing through this life and into the next. Moments ’til Midnight creatively peels back the curtain of Paul’s final hours. Author Brent Crowe imaginatively retells the last twelve hours of Paul’s life, from the perspective of the apostle himself. Along the way, readers will be encouraged to live with purpose, to redeem the time, and to embrace the awesome reality that they too are on a sacred journey.
With no more letters to write, no more churches to plant, no more sermons to preach, and no more missionary journeys to embark upon, Paul awaited his death sentence. What were his final reflections on life? How did he view the race he had run? How should you view the race set before you?
Purchase Moments ‘Til Midnight here.
This blog post is an excerpt from the book Moments ‘Til Midnight and been used with permission from author and company.