I Tend to Forget That I'm Living Like a Pilgrim

The Christian hymn called, "This World is Not My Home" is easy to sing but hard to apply. The reason is that outside the grace of God one cannot combat one's carnal desires. Even if Christians may not live like the rest of the world but they can still fall into carnal desires. They're not 100% sinless either. There's always that tendency to forget that this world isn't our home. 

There are two eternal destines for everyone: one is Heaven and the other is Hell. Most people today feel at home with the world without realizing this world isn't going to last. I've observed how anyone can be a fool by trying to fit in the world. Christians don't belong to the world. I tend to remember John 15:18-19 but I tend to forget about it. It's easier remembered than applied in certain times because the struggle against sin is every real.

John Bunyan's fictional novel called "The Pilgrim's Progress" talks about how Christians are just pilgrims in this world. Hebrews 11:13 calls Christians as strangers and pilgrims. In truth, Christians don't belong to this sinful world. Christians cannot expect paradise here on Earth. There will be persecutions and hardships. But so what? Christians aren't meant to last long on this world anyway and the prosperity of the wicked can't protect them from God's wrath. The troubles in life are but temporary. They are light because God is there to help the Christian. They're not beyond the Christian's capability because God is able. I've been stuck in between a rock and hard place one too many times but I know God is able and He will make me able. Outside His grace, I'm just going to fall down. 

When I think about my problems like persecutions and hardships, I tend to get upset. But when I turn to God, I'm just reminded to keep my eyes on Him. If I don't keep my eyes on Him, I'll drown like Peter did. But I'm glad that Jesus has His helping hand and He has His grace to help me move forward in the narrow road I'm traveling. It's going to get narrower and narrower. It's never going to be a smooth and easy path. But I can take comfort that by God's grace I'll inevitably finish it. By God's grace I have learned to be content by God's grace, I have done good by God's grace and for everything good I do is not my own but by God's grace.