Time for the Kingdom (6)
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
Each one appears before God in Zion. Psalm 84.5-7
The journey of faith
In these last days, we are on a journey toward a better tomorrow in our heavenly home. We “walk” toward the Presence of our King; “run our race” with patience, our eyes fixed on Jesus; and follow the “Way” He has marked out for us. Mature believers know not to be content merely to “stand still” in their walk; they must “press on” toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus in every area and moment of our life (Phil. 3.10-14).
In his sermon, “The Christian Pilgrim,” Jonathan Edwards elaborated on the idea of the Christian life as a journey. There is an end to the journey, and, Edwards insisted, they travel most efficiently who keep that end in sight, so to not become distracted along the way. We are travelers, pilgrims, and we must neither dawdle, delay, nor digress in making progress toward the vision of Christ and His Kingdom.
This message of Edwards dovetails nicely with his sermon on “The Preciousness of Time” and provides a framework for thinking about the life of faith that can help us in making the most of the time of our lives. This framework is succinctly set forth in Psalm 84.
The idea of the life of faith as a journey has solid Biblical roots, for example, in Psalm 84. In this psalm the sons of Korah anticipate the preaching of Jonathan Edwards by teaching us how to look at our lives in the Kingdom of God so that we don’t squander our time but use it as God intends.
The psalm begins with a joyous exclamation concerning the destination of our journey: the courts of the living God (vv. 1, 2). The place where God dwells is exceedingly lovely, so much so that the psalmists’ souls longed and even fainted to be there with the Lord in His glory. The vision of that great, eternal destination filled the psalmists with joy and led them to sing to the Lord with all their strength, and to turn even the hardships in their journey into opportunities for growth and progress.
What vision?
What vision guides us in this life?
Television and Internet commercials, devoted as they are to the economy of getting-and-spending, can give us the idea that, of course, everyone is longing and fainting to be one of the beautiful people, to smell nice and look good, own a new car, eat at fancy establishments, use the latest credit card, and enjoy a prosperous and entertaining retirement. “Influencers” abound to reinforce this vision of life, hawking everything from the chicest meat sticks to the most expensive ocean cruises.
If this is the commanding vision of our lives, the way we use our time will be determined by whatever of this we hope to realize or achieve before we die.
But in the Kingdom economy we know a secret about life that our secular counterparts cannot fathom: Life is a journey to a better and brighter and more bountiful place than we can even imagine. And if our vision is that we are pilgrims journeying to eternal glory, we will use our time each day to make progress toward that goal.
Psalm 84 envisions the journey of life as a kind of “living sacrifice,” not unlike the way Paul describes our lives in Romans 12.1, 2 (cf. Ps. 84.3, 4). Every day we present ourselves to the Lord like birds on an altar, offering our lives and time to Him, so that our lives, in all their facets, may be pleasing to God, lived in a manner agreeable to His Kingdom purposes (Ps. 90.12, 16, 17).
Such a view of life comports well with Jesus’ instruction to take up our cross daily and follow Him in works of self-denial and self-giving (Matt. 16.24, 25), keeping our minds set on Jesus and the Jerusalem above (Col. 2.1-3; Heb. 12.22-24, 28). Thus, the Christian’s journey is a perpetual via victoriosa as well as a via dolorosa.
Drawing on the strength of the Lord
But to live this way we will need to draw on the strength of the Lord (Ps. 84.5). The “highways” that lead to eternal Zion can be difficult to travel. Temptations and trials arise; we experience hardships and opposition; and it can be difficult to keep the vision of our destination in mind. But we must stay focused so that we may persevere in our journey.
Indeed, our journey in life can often feel more like a Vale of Tears than Happy Valley (v. 6). But, knowing that we’re on a journey to eternal glory, that we have devoted ourselves to serve the living God, and that we journey every moment in the strength of His Word and Spirit, we turn our trials to rejoicing and our setbacks to renewal, using our time to “go from strength to strength” (v. 7) as we prepare to appear before the Lord at the end of our lives (cf. 2 Pet. 3.11-14).
So we hang our lives on prayer (v. 8) and shield ourselves under the Word of the Lord (v. 9; cf. Ps. 12), as we strain to improve our vision of and progress towards the heavenly courts of the Lord (v. 10).
Every day we walk according to the good and upright Law of the Lord (v. 11; cf. Rom. 7.12), in the light of Christ’s resurrection and the promise of blessing He holds out to us (vv. 11, 12). Such a framework or template for living each day fills our lives with anticipation, rejoicing, strength, and hope, a hope which can become visible and infectious to those around us (1 Pet. 3.15).
Seeing our lives this way, as pilgrims on a journey to eternal glory and bliss, can help us in making the most of the time of our lives, as we invest each moment for the glory of God and His Kingdom in these last days.
For reflection
1. Many Christians over the centuries have used the image of a “journey” to describe the life of faith. Do you think this is a good way of thinking about our lives? Why or why not?
2. What does it mean to be a “living sacrifice” in the time of your life?
3. How would you counsel a new Christian to “draw on the strength of the Lord”?
Next steps—Conversation: As you think of your life as a journey toward eternal glory, what would be some of the highlights of your journey thus far? Talk with the Lord about these, giving thanks or repenting as He responds.
T. M. Moore
Give thanks
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: This week in our Read Moore we begin selections from our book, Understanding the Times. This book will be a valuable companion to our study of “The Kingdom Economy.” In our Crosfigell column we’re following Brendan, a 6th century Irish saint, as he pursues the Kingdom economy in his extraordinary adventures. Our daily Scriptorium column takes up the writings of Paul this week in our continuing series, “Jesus throughout the Scriptures.”
Thank you.
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
