Pilgrims: A New Year's Mindset

Pilgrims: A New Year's Mindset

1 Peter 2:11

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul (KJV1900)

A new year is upon us as the obligatory annual discussions of themes and resolutions swirl about in our personal and social conversations. We see this year closing and another one beginning, and within our minds, it marks an opportunity for a potential change, whether it be in lifestyle, mindsets, or habits. Unfortunately, just because the year changes doesn't mean that our inner self changes, and often, by mid-January, our resolutions and commitments fall by the wayside to be revisited at some future time. Fortunately, God's Word never changes; His truth is forever, and so I propose that if we establish our New Year's mindset within biblical truth, then we will be ever more vigilant to follow through as we seek obedience and faithfulness.

For the new year, I wish to encourage the adoption of the "Pilgrim's Mindset" based on 1 Peter 2:11. I reasoned this need from a multitude of circumstances from various conversations to online comment sections and Christian commentary throughout this past year. Rather than passing through these lands of dust, dirt, and sin, modern Christians involve themselves deeply to the detriment of not only the church but the whole gospel. The Christian of today forgets their primary calling and substitute it with whatever personal cause they adopt and baptize it with whatever scriptural gymnastics are needed. In order to restore this lost mindset, we need to address what it is, how it affects our lives, and how it affects our souls.

Strangers and Pilgrims

The quoted verse comes from a more extended dialogue from Peter to Believers about putting behind us the old ways in which we lived, understanding that who we were before is not who we are now in Christ. As Peter says in 1 Peter 2:10, "…Which in time past [you] were not a people, but [you] are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." Peter, writing to the Christians at that time, encouraged them not to return to their old lifestyles but rather forge ahead as new creations with God's mercy.

Peter refers to the Christians as strangers and pilgrims. Other translations use words like "sojourners and exiles (ESV)" and "aliens and exiles (NSRV)," and the point is clear: Christians, your worldly citizenship transferred at the cross from this world to heaven. Peter uses these words to express the idea that, as Christians, we dwell within a foreign country temporarily, and our settlement is not with our native people. If we look about us and find that wickedness, sin, and death fill the lands we dwell in, then we're not in heaven and, thus, not in our homelands. As strangers and exiles, we do not feel comfort or ease; instead, we feel separate and out of place. For this reason, God created the church so that His children can comfort and fellowship with one another until they complete their journeys through the harsh lands of life. Fellow pilgrims, remember that Christ bought you with a price, and delivered us from the cursed citizenship of this fallen world whose end is fire and death.

Abstain from Fleshly Lusts

How do we maintain our pilgrim status? Simple, we do not buy land within the native lands. What I mean by this is that we do not allow our desires to distract us from our journeys toward the celestial city. Peter tells believers that we must distance ourselves from our worldly passions that so easily replace God in our lives or distract our eyes from the throne of Grace to the lands under the sun. In our modern age, such passions and distractions are commonplace and even have been baptized into the contemporary church.

Believers, we must not distract ourselves from our main task, which is to spread the gospel and make disciples of men. Our top priority is obedience to God – all other things are secondary to this objective. I see so many worried about who's in office and whether their candidate is "God's guy." Too many Christians have set up their tents in political camps rather than following the example of men like Nehemiah and Daniel. These men served kings as was their God-given responsibility, but God was their highest authority. They served in their roles as expected as men of faith, but they knew they were not home yet. Daniel still prayed whether the law approved or disapproved of his actions, and Nehemiah fulfilled his calling to lead the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall after serving as cupbearer and seeking God's help. These men did not align themselves with the native kings because they served the eternal king whose rule knows no bounds. They served a sovereign king whose decrees would be fulfilled. Vote, advise, pray, and serve as God calls you to, but be careful not to put the modern rulers on the throne of your soul.

Our distractions are not just political but are social, personal, and familial. Friends, we do not take our sports trophies, promotions, work achievements, homes, cars, or hobbies to heaven. If any of these interfere with our main Christ-given task, then we have not abstained from the passions of our flesh. Instead, we revel in our lusts. The world will not take a pilgrim seriously about hell when we dance around it every day of the week except Sundays. Your children will not take your faith seriously if your passions revolve around everything but your service to God. Friends, abstain from the passions of your flesh.

Which War Against the Soul

Peter issues a dire truth concerning the lusts of our flesh – they war against the soul. This war rages constantly in our hearts each day as we create idols that must be crushed and cast aside. Each time we choose our desires over God's, we wage war against the Holy Spirit within us. Light and dark cannot dwell together and thus, when we allow our passions to rule our lives, the darkness that flows in assaults the Spirit whom we grieve with our rebellion.

Are politics your idol? You are waging war against your soul. Are your hobbies your idol? You are waging war against your soul. Are your work requirements your idol? You are waging war against your soul. Are your children your idol? You are waging war against your soul. Friends, we must not let the cares of the world pollute our souls, creating unnecessary conflict within our hearts.

Conclusion

Friends, we are pilgrims passing through a fallen world. We live in the world, but we are not of the world. We have a higher calling that goes far beyond just politics and our kids' sports season; we have been called to spread a saving gospel – the same gospel message that saved our souls. Pack your tent, Pilgrim, and continue your journey. Bid farewell to Vanity Fair, pick up your cross, and carry it forward towards the celestial city. Let your passions be for heavenly tasks and God's Word. Do not live in fear, but rather with hope, knowing that these lands are not your home. Take comfort in knowing that just as the Israelites took Joseph's body out of Egypt, so too will God take our bodies from this wicked earth and glorify them forevermore. Be faithful, my fellow pilgrims. Be diligent, my fellow strangers. Be fishers of men, my fellow exiles.

May God bless this new year, and our lives bring Him glory. Amen.