The Pilgrimage
Following Christ is a journey. In my previous blog, I wrote about God revealing Himself in our “journey” moments. As I walk into 2024, I continue to think about the journey we all are on as we follow Him. Through much reflection, I’ve come to realize that our only destination on this journey is when we get to be with Jesus in eternity. Every other “destination-like” milestone is just a pit stop along the way.
This is a challenging concept for me to understand because I love the idea of “being done”. As a list-maker, my favourite thing to do is to complete everything I’ve planned. Both in my work and personal life, I have mental and physical lists of tasks and goals that I strive to complete in a timely manner. I often find myself determined to get things done because I don’t like having a running list of things to do.
The setback with this type of thinking is that it doesn’t translate well when applied to a relationship with Christ. As stated in my previous blog, I often get disheartened when God puts me through trials because, a) I feel far and set-back from my self-identified destination, and b) I have another “thing” to unpack, process, and endure.
In this idea of “journeys” and trials, I was taking a Psalms class in school. We were examining Pilgrimage Psalms which are about Pilgrims who journeyed to the temple in Jerusalem yearly.[1] Tremper Longman argues that these journeys are both physical and spiritual since they were going to the place where “heaven met earth”.[2]
While sitting with this concept, God reminded me of the Pilgrimage Psalm, Psalm 84; specifically, verse 10 which reads,“Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere”. In some seasons, I often want to discontinue the call the Lord has given me because of the challenges it comes with; or I try to power through the intense emotions that are tied to trials in order to “get over” it. Yet, every time I face these sentiments, the Lord reminds me of this verse and the endurance of the Pilgrims. They stayed the course to the temple amidst climate barriers, physical obstacles, and spiritual battles. They knew that they had to endure the course and walk the path that got them there. Each day, they faced the challenges and the joys that came their way and kept going. They knew that it was better to walk the path that led to His courts than it was to live a thousand “better” days outside of Him.
We are called to endure the ongoing struggles that are associated with being a disciple. I’ve had to learn that as we follow Christ, we can’t take the approach of a “list” mindset that strives to “check off” all the challenges so we can finally be done putting in the work. The Pilgrims faced the challenge of travelling to the temple yearly. They did whatever it took, regardless of the weather or how they felt, and didn’t stop after one year of doing it.
Consequently, there will never be a day when I’ll be “done” refining my character and growing deeper in my relationship with Christ. Regardless of what I achieve or where God takes me, I won’t ever get to a place where I can sit back and look at my “to-do” list with the Lord and have nothing there. Nevertheless, He reminds me that it’s OK because we aren’t supposed to be “there”. God hasn’t called us to be perfect or to have it all together. Therefore, the more I fight these experiences and have a “checklist” mindset that strives to get things done, the less I learn and experience God along the way.
Then, what is being a disciple of Christ? For me, in this season, it’s that our true destination is eternity with Him. As long as we are on this earth, we will never truly “arrive”; and even if we think we have because we achieved a goal or a specific life stage, it’s just a brief pit-stop along the way in light of the Kingdom that is before us. Though we aren’t pilgrims walking towards the temple, we are disciples journeying our way to be with Him in eternity. We are called to walk daily in His presence regardless of what is thrown our way because it is better to persevere one day in His courts than to have a thousand “perfect” days without Him.