Pilgrims and Strangers

I see Joel Osteen has a new book, It's Your Time, not to be confused with his previous book, Your Best Life Now. Notice a common theme? What Osteen and other prosperity gospel peddlers emphasize is a message of "Get your hopes up. Raise your expectations. Your best days are in front of you." All you need is some positive thinking and a contribution to the prosperity gospel ministry, commonly called seed faith, and you'll experience your heart's desires here and now. But for the Christian, we are not looking for our "best life" to be here on earth. The writers of the book of Hebrews exhorts us to see ourselves as strangers and pilgrims, seeking another country as our home (Hebrews 11:13, 14). This world should not be where we feel "at home"; we should view it primarily as our journey toward our heavenly home.

I came across an essay by Jonathan Edwards titled "The Christian Pilgrim - The True Christian Life a Journey Toward Heaven." In the first section, Edwards observes:

"We ought not to rest in the world and its enjoyments, but should desire heaven. We should 'seek first the kingdom of God.' (Mat. 6:33) We ought above all things to desire a heavenly happiness; to be with God and dwell with Jesus Christ. Though surrounded with outward enjoyments and settled in families with desirable friends and relations; though we have companions whose society is delightful, and children in whom we see many promising qualifications; though we live by good neighbors, and are generally beloved where known; we ought not to take our rest in these things as our portion. We should be so far from resting in them, that we should desire to leave them all, in God's due time. We ought to possess, enjoy and use them, with no other view but readily to quit them, whenever we are called to it, and to change them willingly and cheerfully for heaven."

Edwards continues with this analogy:

"A traveler is not wont to rest in what he meets with, however comfortable and pleasing, on the road. If he passes through pleasant places, flowery meadows, or shady groves, he does not take up his content in these things, but only takes a transient view of them as he goes along. He is not enticed by fine appearances to put off the thought of proceeding. No, but his journey's end is in his mind. If he meets with comfortable accommodations at an inn, he entertains no thoughts of settling there. He considers that these things are not his own, that he is but a stranger, and when he has refreshed himself, or tarried for a night, he is for going forward. And it is pleasant to him to think that so much of the way is gone."

I will continue with more thoughts from "The Christian Pilgrim" in the coming days. Note to those aware of my six-month moratorium on books of theology: this is an essay, not a book...an important technicality.