Strangers In The World

They desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:16

The American philosopher Henry David Thoreau suggested that we should live so simply that if an enemy overtook our town, we could walk out of the gate empty handed and without anxiety. It is a reminder to us as Christians that we should travel light, remembering that this world is not our home.

In the Bible, when Pharaoh asked Jacob’s age, the old man replied, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty” (Genesis 47:9). Shortly before he died, King David prayed, “We are aliens and pilgrims before You” (1 Chronicles 29:15). In discussing Old Testament heroes, the writer of Hebrews 11:13 calls them “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” He says they desired a better country and were looking for a city that God had prepared for them (verse 16); therefore God was not ashamed to be called their God.

The Bible says, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).

Remember—this world is not our home; we’re just “a-passing through.”

Christians are not citizens of earth trying to get to heaven but citizens of heaven making their way through this world.

VANCE HAVNER