11. Pilgrimage to Paradise: Eyes on the Prize

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Since the beginning of this year I have been reading through the Bible with a group of friends from my church. This morning I read through a few chapters from John, including the passage containing Jesus' prayer for His disciples in John 17. Part of that prayer is this: "I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world". This last bit is repeated a couple of verses later.

When I came to today's verses from Peter's letter to the pilgrims scattered throughout the Roman world, I read: "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live 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 that he visits us". (1 Peter 2:11, 12)

As I read John's words I wondered if, at the time, they had registered on the disciples. Did they understand that they didn't belong, that they were on a journey whose end was not here on earth, but where Jesus—our missionary-God who came, visited, fulfilled His mission, and then returned home, was headed?

By the time Peter writes His letter the followers of Jesus would have been beginning to understand that, like their Lord, they were on a mission to bring living water to the barrenness of a society that denied God and lived for self—very much like our own. They were passing through this dry valley called earth on their way to something much, much better.

And the hope was that their godly influence during that pilgrimage would result in others joining the journey to paradise.

So Peter writes to them as those passing through life who, as far as the world was concerned, didn't belong. He urges them not to become like that world but to live lives that, though they might invite misunderstanding, persecution, and even death, would bring glory to God and fulfil His redemptive mission in those who would believe because of their testimony.

It's not easy to resist the pull of a society without a moral compass, whose god is self. What keeps us on course is looking to the One Who has traveled the valley and waits for us at the end of our pilgrimage, the One who we live for, and die for.

In The Crucified Life, A. W. Tozer writes:  "Living the crucified life is a journey not for the faint at heart. The journey is rough and filled with dangers and difficulties, and it does not end until we see Christ. Yet though the journey may be difficult, the result of seeing Christ face to face is worth it all." (p. 21)

So eyes on Him, "…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart". (Hebrews 12:1-3)