Thoughts From a Sojourner

It seems a lot of people are doing home renovations these days. It’s cheaper than buying a new home and you get to design it the way you want. However, I don’t think I would renovate if I was renting and planning to eventually move out to a more permanent home. I would still make my rental as nice as possible, but it would only be temporary changes. I wouldn’t spend too much time and effort on renovations knowing my stay is temporary and I will eventually move out. This reminds me of our Christian walk in this world. When we accept Christ as our savior, our home is no longer in this world, but our citizenship is a heavenly one. We become sojourners, passing through this world as pilgrims and strangers to eventually get to our heavenly home with God. What should our attitudes as sojourners be?

Psalm 119:19 “I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!”

While the Psalmist understood he was a sojourner in this world, he still understands he has responsibilities to honor God during his temporary stay. Too often we forget our stay in this world is a temporary one and try to get too comfortable. We can turn good things such as raising a family or working hard for a successful career into idols if that becomes more important than God. Hebrews 11:8-13 gave us some lessons on how to sojourn faithfully though the life of Abraham. Abraham obeyed when God called him out of the comforts of his country into a foreign land, not knowing where he was to go. He lived in tents, a temporary home, not knowing how long he will stay on his journey. Abraham focused his life on his future city in heaven, while he considered himself a stranger and pilgrim in this world. It’s so easy to get caught up in the comforts of this world and forget this world is just our temporary home. Having a mindset of a sojourner means that we are merely passing through this life into our eternal life that is yet to come. What we do in this world prepares us for our life with Jesus in eternity. How are you going to sojourn in this temporary home we call earth?