Our lives on earth may be actualized by the moments if not the days that we live. Such a notion only underscores the fleetingly manner in which our lives are lived. As one wise man stated, “A true measure of one’s life is as brief as the day which turns into the evening.”
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. Psalm 90:10
The life span of Biblical characters were in the hundred of years. After the flood, human life spans was limited to 120 years according to Genesis 6:3. The shorter life spans were because God saw the wicked nature of the hearts of all humanity as noted in Psalm 90:10.
The author Nelson DeMille sees the human experience in light of his quote, “We are all pilgrims on the same journey-but some pilgrims have better road maps.” The initial implication of this quote suggests that a ‘pilgrim’ is someone who dwell as a stranger, or lived as an alien in the land. Pilgrims live their lives uprooted, refugees or wanderers attempting to find their way to a final destination. The next observation is that as a pilgrim, one has is better served if there was some sort of effectual if not efficient map to assist one along the way.
The Road called Strait
In ancient times, a pilgrim or a follower of Messiah lacked worldly security-thus their status was marked by humility and trusting dependence on God. The fundamental meaning of pilgrim from a biblical perspective is, ‘a way of being in the world while retaining a kind of freedom,’ as Messiah said, be in the world, but not in the world. These followers:
- Had no absolute loyalty to the nation or state. As Messiah stated, My Kingdom is not of this world, and to belong to His Kingdom made one’s citizenship to human kingdom provisional.
- Faithful followers of Messiah put their trust in the Creator, which meant that one must not put ultimate trust in armies, wealth, social status or law.
- The follower may be called away by the Creator, to leave all that makes one feel secure, thus inviting a faithful follower to go on a risky journey of Faith.
This is called “strait”; because faith in Christ, a profession of it, and a life and conversation agreeable to it, are attended with many afflictions, temptations, reproaches, and persecutions. “Entering” in at it is by faith, and making a profession of it: hence it follows, that faith is not the gate itself, but the grace, by which each soul enter in at the right door, and walk on in Christ, as they begin with Him.
The Road called Wrath
Pilgrims who are driven by the world, live a life without a personal and daily encounter with God. Their lives are marked by a real sense of being under the wrath of God with no end nor purpose. Such as ailments, diseases, calamities, vexations and afflictions due to years of sowing to carnal lust, worldly pleasures which end in destruction.
All pilgrims will suffer throughout their life-times, yet the difference is noted in how one deals with life’s trials and hardships. Mishandled suffering produces bitterness, pride and fear rather than the joy, forgiveness and freedom that God grants those who travel on the Road called Strait!
Grace and Peace
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