“We Are All Pilgrims, But Where is Your Home?”

The definition of a pilgrim is one who travels through a foreign country, or dwells in a land that is not his home.  As a child my parents took my brother and I on many trips throughout our home state and the western states of the United States of America.  We were pilgrims going from city to city, seeing new sights and meeting new people.  However, as we would arrive at each new town we knew that we were there only as visitors, passing through.  Today I serve the Lord as a missionary, making my pilgrimage from place to place to tell others of His love for them.

Believers, those who follow the Lord Y’shua (Jesus), are but pilgrims in this world.  All of our deeds and thoughts in this world should reflect this fact.  This booklet looks at ten points which should be considered while you are traveling.  This booklet will also help you to reflect upon which home you are traveling to.

1. An important and pleasing view of the Believer’s state and character is that of a traveler to a better world. 

“Turn, pilgrim, turn, thy cares forego,

All earth-born care is wrong;

Man wants but little here below,

Nor wants that little long.”

The Scriptures describe life as a pilgrimage, and the child of God as a traveler to a lasting home. “I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” “When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.” The aged patriarch, Jacob, said, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.” Of him, and those who lived much longer than he, it is said, that they “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth;” but they “desired a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He hath prepared for them a city” (Gen. 47⁹; Heb. 11^13-16).

Cherish the views these holy men professed. You, if a Believer indeed, are but a traveler here. Infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, and age, succeed each other so rapidly, that many scarcely reflect they are in one, before they find themselves advanced to another. A poor man, who had spent more than seventy years on earth, once observed to me, that his time seemed but like two or three weeks. Yes, life is a pilgrimage, and short is the passage from the cradle to the tomb: some find it a longer, some a shorter, but all a short and hasty journey. It is hasty, though its haste be unperceived. A traveler on a smooth surfaced river may indulge the illusion that all he sees on shore, the trees, the grass, the villages are in rapid motion, hurrying away; but it is he who moves, and all on shore is still. Thus, even when least sensible of the speed with which you go, are you advancing with sure and rapid haste to the eternal world. Think when you lie down, think when you rise up, think when you walk, and think when you rest, I am but a traveler here. Amid the cares of life, remember these are but the cares of a journey; amid its pleasures, these are but the comforts of an inn. This world is not my world; for I am but a traveler here.

2. Think of those who are gone. The great and noble, who once turned the world upside down—what are they? Where are they now? Those who abounded in riches, or reveled in pleasures—where are they? And, what is theirs? The moment that they breathed their last; riches, pleasures, pomps, and honors va­nished all. “Those lying vanities of life, that ever-tempting, ever-cheating train”—what are they to those whose journey to eternity is finished? Their life is ended; that valued life is valued no longer. What one day they would not have resigned for the world, the next is snatched from them, and they are consigned over to the grave. What is then to them the value of all they once most loved and prized? It is but a moment since they were warm with life, happy with hopes and pleasures, or perplexed with plans and cares; and now all these are finished for ever.

3. Think of the living; look at the multitudes that crowd a populous city, and reflect how soon all will have left this world, and be for ever fixed in another. All their business brought to an eternal close. All their transient griefs and joys eternally ended. No longer traversing the streets, hurried with cares, and distracted with business; no longer concerned about the varying changes and commotions of the world, about the nations that rise or that fall; but silent in the dust. Think, that could you revisit those now crowded streets when one hundred years are passed, if no new generation arose, you would find them entirely deserted; not a single passenger in them, nor an inhabitant in the houses; but the streets, where a blade of grass is never seen, then covered with it; the houses falling into ruin; many of them already in the dust; the birds of the desert building their nests in the deserted rooms, and foxes, half hid with grass and nettles, peeping through the shattered windows. The houses of divine worship all forsaken; every preacher gone from his pulpit; every crowded congregation vanished and forgotten in the dust; all as silent as the midst of an Arabian desert, or as the chambers of the grave.  O, act as a stranger and pilgrim while in so vain a world!

4. Or view the subject, by indulging pensive reflection on the transient nature of all the most endeared earthly ties. Think with yourself, Could I rise from my tomb in two hundred years, and look around on the world I shall then have so long forsaken, what a scene of desolation would it present to me! Not those only whom I saw go before me, but all I left would have gone to eternity. Could I approach their now cheerful hearths, I should miss them there; walk their gardens or their fields, I should not find them there; go to their tombs, and even there would not one wretched trace be found, nor even a stone remain, to tell that they had ever been.

Look forward a little further to the period, when all the noise, and tumult, and business of this world shall have closed for ever. How has it vanished! How have its short-lived multitudes departed! Their business over, their little pleasures finished, their hasty sorrows ended; their doom pronounced, their endless dwelling fixed, and their once happy, distracting, perplexing world lost! vanished! gone for ever! Let its admirers tell us of honors and fame, that will last as long as the sun shall shine or the world endure. Alas, contemptible honors! that will endure for so brief a span! The sun is but a lamp that lights our pathway to an endless world. The earth is but the road, prepared for pilgrims to travel, till, in the eternal abodes of grief or bliss, they reach an endless home. It is but as a moment, as an inch of time, as time darting of an arrow, the falling of a star, the twinkling of an eye, or the glancing of a thought, before all which you now behold shall pass away from you as a dream when one awaketh, and give place to those eternal scenes. Then, farewell earth, farewell sun, moon, and stars; farewell a busy or an idle, a sad or a pleasurable world! But, no farewells are known beyond the grave. To the scenes which will then open upon you, you will never bid adieu. Start forward, then, my fellow-pilgrim, start forward, in your thoughts, to everlasting scenes, and roam among the immeasurable ages that lie beyond the judgment day. How the world recedes as you advance. It sinks to a speck—to a mote—to no­thing. How six thousand years, or six thousand ages, dwindle as you sail down the tide of eternity; they sink to an hour—to a moment—to the twinkling of an eye—to nothingness itself. O, remember that on that awful tide you must shortly sail, when the world is nothing to you. Strive to love it no more than you will do, when, myriads of ages after its destruction, you look back upon it. Value its honors as you will value them then, and prize its pleasures as then you will prize them; and let the prospect of those amazing scenes strike deeper on your heart the salutary thought—I am but a traveler here.

5. Above all, let the full prospect of eternity deepen the impression: let but the solemn idea of eternity dwell in your mind, and life must then appear a journey or a dream. “Suppose,” says a writer of the seventeenth century, “that the vast ocean were distilled drop by drop, but so slowly, that a thousand years should pass between every drop, how many millions of years would be required to empty it! Suppose that this great world, in its full compass, from one pole to another, and from the top of the firmament to the bottom, were to be filled with the smallest sand, but, so slowly, that every thousand years only a single grain should be added, how many millions would pass away before it were filled! If the immense superficies of the heavens, wherein are innumerable stars, were to be filled with figures of numbers, and every figure signified a million, what created mind could tell their number, much less their value! Having these thoughts, I reply, the sea will be emptied drop by drop, the universe filled grain by grain, the numbers written in the heavens will come to an end; and how much of eternity is spent? Nothing; for infinitely more remains.”

O, keep your eyes fixed on that eternity! Look not at the things which are seen, but at things which are not seen; “for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4¹⁸). Life is a vapor, a point, a nothing; eternity is all. Yet a little while, and the golden hours of life will be gone; the last sands in the glass of time will have run out; the sun will have passed over the dial; time arrow will be flown; the vapor will be vanished, and time will be no longer: but vast, boundless, joyful or dreadful eternity knows no limits, and fears or hopes no end. How much can you rejoice in the pleasures that are dying while you enjoy them! Or have sorrow for the distresses that are vanishing while you feel them! Loosen, then, your heart from the earth: it is but a world of dreams and shadows, through which you journey to a world of solemn and eternal realities. Let the world talk of their pleasures, and be as cheerful as their condition should render them wretched; but, do you think of ending time and unending eternity. ETERNITY! blessed or dreadful word! whose meaning no num­bers can unfold, no ages can declare; into whose depths no eye but that of God has pierced; a span whose length no heart has ever comprehended. O, look at that eternity more! So near the world where all is solemn, should you trifle? So near the state where all is endless, can you prize what is perishing? At the gate of eternity, on the threshold of an endless world, or, at most, with but a few steps before you must step into it, are the concerns of a fleeting pilgrimage of much importance? Are you so near doing what you must do for ever; so near rejoicing, where you must rejoice for ever, or mourning, where you must mourn for ever; and should not this make a transitory life and a perishing world little things indeed? Live then, O live as a traveler to eternity; a pilgrim here, pressing to a happy, endless home!

6. While this is your condition, if a Believer indeed, even here you belong to a better world. You are a stranger; but, you have a settled dwelling place. You are a pilgrim; but you have a rest.—There is a family to which you belong; a family in that country “where pilgrims roam no more.” That family is the family or God, and that home is heaven. “You are no more a stranger and foreigner, but a fellow-citizen with the saints, and of the HOUSEHOLD of God” (Eph. 2¹⁹). You belong to Messiah, “of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph. 3¹⁵).

It is true, the splendors of eternal day do not vet blaze upon your dazzled eye; nor do the first-born sons of light, arrayed in immortal youth and glory, yet visibly walk or commune with you: it is true, the gladness that is mingled with no alloy does not yet overflow your soul; nor have your eyes yet seen the King, the Lord of hosts. But soon you shall join the disciples of Y’shua (Jesus), who have passed the stream of death, and rest from every labor. They shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Y’shua (Jesus), their Shepherd, who was “their boast through time, is their bliss through eternity.” Happy conquerors! But the disciples of Y’shua (Jesus) belong to the same family. One part is not dearer to God than time other. The “whole family in heaven and earth” has the same parent, and is loved with the same love. The whole family has but one Shepherd, and has the same interest in his overflowing kindness and tender care. The same hand protects them all. The same blood redeemed them all. The same love has crowned, or is about to crown them all. The whole family has but one Father, one Savior, one Sanctifier, and one heaven. The same privileges belong to all; the same eternal love is fixed on all. The same Spirit inhabits all, and the same heaven is the home of all. Some have landed on the heavenly shore; the gales of death are driving others into the harbor; and to it all the rest, urged on by wind and tide, hasten apace. The whole family in heaven and earth will soon be the family in heaven; a family for ever unbroken there.

7. Such is the Believer’s state. My dear brother or sister, is it yours? It is, if you belong to Y’shua (Jesus) the Messiah, in spirit and in truth. O, think of it again; how ennobling a connection! And, O! remember how you were brought into it, when only death eternal was your desert. Then Y’shua (Jesus) pitied you. Then “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved YOU, even when you were dead in sins, quickened you with Messiah; (by grace are you saved;) and raised you up, and made you sit in heavenly places in Messiah; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards you, through Messiah Y’shua (Jesus)” (Eph. 2^4-7).

This view of the Believer state should make the heaviest earthly trials appear to you as they did to St. Paul—light afflictions, which are but for a moment. If this world were your all, well indeed might you make much account of its trials and griefs; but, should a citizen of heaven, a member of God’s immortal fa­mily, deeply feel the trials of a rough but short voy­age, or of an unpleasant but hasty journey; could one of the family who has reached his rest return to the world to spend a few more days below, how light would he esteem those trials which are the trials of a moment! How little would he regard those affections that, as in the twinkling of an eye, will vanish for ever! In the day of trial think, “This is not my country: there is no trouble in that happy land. This is not my home; but I shall reach it soon, and then shall bid a last farewell to sorrow and to care.”

8. In this view also, how momentous is the pursuit of holiness—how infinitely inconsistent with your character is the indulgence of sin! Could an angel of light, or one of the spirits of the just, visit this world, and spend a few years here, how inexpressibly shocking would it be thought for such a being to indulge in iniquity! Would it not be said to him, “How dreadfully inconsistent is this with your character and your con­nections! Do you not belong to heaven? Are you not a member of the family of God? And will you plunge from that height of privilege, and disgrace that sacred character?”

If you are a Believer, you belong to the same family, and should thirst after the lovely likeness of Y’shua (Jesus), which glorified spirits bear. Like theirs should be your love and hatred, your aversion and delight. The dispositions that dwell in their breasts, are those you should cherish in yours. The spirit that glows in their souls, is the spirit that should animate yours. If viewed aright, willful sin would appear almost as shocking in you as it would in them; for the whole family in heaven and earth is one in Messiah Y’shua (Jesus). One in privileges, one in blessings, one in friends, one in obligations; and, therefore, bound by every holy tie to be one in principle, one in disposition, one in practice. Re­vere yourself. Respect your high and holy calling, and pray to live and act as a member of Y’shua (Jesus)’ family, as a traveler to the skies. Love not the world, neither the things of the world; for you are dead, and your life is hidden with Messiah in God (1 John 2¹⁵; Col. 3³).

9. Learn from this important view of your condition one lesson more. It should teach you to live waiting for your Lord. “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord. Blessed are those servants whom the lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.” “I say unto all, Watch.” The followers of Messiah are described as those who have turned from idols to serve the living God, and to WAIT for his Son from hea­ven (1 Thes. 1^9-10). Important representation! May you feel it aright. A waiting frame of mind is that the Believer should ever cherish. But, what is it to wait? Let a familiar illustration furnish a reply.

The father of a numerous family leaves his children, intending to go and settle in a foreign land. Before he departs, he says, “My dear children, I am going to leave you for a while, but not for ever. I am going to prepare for you, in a country where we shall be hap­pier than we can be here. As soon as I have made the needful preparations I shall return to fetch you; there­fore, wait and be ready.” The father departs; his children continue in their old abode, but with new feel­ings. It is hardly like their abode now; for they are expecting to go. They pursue their needful duties, attend as before to necessary concerns, but still their hearts are gone after their father. They are looking for their new abode. They are waiting for their father’s coming.

Such are the feelings and views which you should cherish. Not feelings that will prevent your discharging the duties of life; that will drive you into a desert, or turn you to a hermit; but, that will lead you to act and live as not at home, but looking for your Lord; waiting as those children would wait. Not building on long years below; not expecting great things here; but with a heart untied from the world, ready to go, be the warning ever so short, and to welcome your Lord, let him come ever so soon.

Blessed are they who indulge this watching, waiting spirit: the King of heaven and earth has pronounced them blessed.

10. But perhaps I am addressing one of a character very opposite to that described in these pages. Perhaps you who read these lines are no member of the family of God; no fellow citizen with the saints; no heir of heaven and immortality. If it be so, O, let me for a moment affectionately speak to you. How pitiable is your condition! Your transient morning might be the dawn of an immortal day! Your vain, half-painful, half-pleasing life on earth, might be the forerunner or an endless life of unmixed bliss above! But, you slight the Savior who would conduct you to that abode’ You, who might, through the grace of Y’shua (Jesus), ascend to the kingdom of God, and range that blessed world for ever, are satisfied, alas! with the low scenes of earth. You might rival angels, as an inhabitant of heaven; but, by taking up your portion here, become the rival of the brutes that perish. Here you bury all your hopes. Here you renounce that great salvation, which, once finally lost, can never be regained. O, sinful and unhappy choice! When we see swine wallowing in the mire, we see them gratifying themselves, and losing nothing by their pleasure; but when we see unmortal beings wallowing on earth in the mire of sin and sensuality, we see them losing more than tongue can express. To see millions that might be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Messiah; that might, walk the spacious regions of heaven, and, washed in the blood of the Lamb, be happy and glorified for ever: to see these slighting the only Savior’s grace and love, rejecting immortal hopes, and damn­ing their own immortal souls: to see the young and the aged, the happy and the grave,  the rich and the poor, doing this by millions, is a pitiable sight indeed! What must it appear to the angels of heaven?

“Could they tremble, at such a sight.”

Are you one of the number? Unhappy creature! How poor! How wretched! How undone O, awake, before eternal ruin awakes you! And while the Savior invites you to his fold, to his family, be not so taken in by sin, so deceived by the devil, as to refuse the offered mercy.

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