‘Holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith..’ 1 Tim. 1:19
It is commonly said that life is a journey. This derives from our catalogue of experience from cradle to grave and no one is exempted from this reality of our frailty as human beings.
Now, just as the average modern traveler would have a list of essential items to be included in his travelling pack to ease his journey, the life traveler even ought to do more considering that his pilgrimage has an eternal connotation.
Top on the list of a traveling pack for a careful traveler would include funds, traveling documents- visas, boarding passes, and passports etc. to ensure a hitch free travel.
Likewise, and even more important a wise life traveler would reconsider his life experiences to be sure that he has the right traveling pack to avoid a failed trip as he travels through life.
A serious traveler calls to mind that all of life’s glory is ephemeral, transient, and temporary at best and he is convinced that an author of life exists in the invisible realms, and beyond this, he must get acquainted with the Author of his pilgrimage and acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior.
The scripture is clear about this proclaiming that “.. there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,’ and that name is JESUS.
Why do men need a savior and salvation?
In concise terms, we all need a Savior (Jesus) because sin has perverted the nature of God in man, which was first found in Adam before his tragic fall (Genesis 3).
Secondly God did not create humanity for fun but he has a plan in mind and for man to be part of this central plan he must be conformed to the holy nature of God or else finish his journey in eternal doom.
The Scripture says For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth Him should not perish but hath everlasting life (John 3:16).
Why is Jesus central to our pilgrimage? The challenge for the traveler is that the Author of his traveling plan requires sinless perfection, and of course the traveler has suffered a sinful diversion in Adam.
Therefore, a safe arrival at his ordained destination is far from the pilgrim and God must fix the moral compass of his journey, bringing him away from his sinful diversion, and safely home. That is why all of life’s travelers need a Savior—and Scripture identifies Him as Jesus Christ (Luke 2:11).
We need the Savior, Jesus, because we need to be made holy: “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Holiness is the moral compass for any serious traveler who wants to arrive home safely, and Jesus is the only one who can fix this moral compass.
A cursory look around the highway of life by any observant traveler would reveal so many traveling diversions caused by depraved humanity and grievous sins.
A traveler must be aware that central to God’s plan to bring him home safely is Jesus. Without Jesus his journey is doomed on arrival-Jesus is the safe vehicle God has provided for all of lives’ pilgrimage.
Revelation 21:3-4 unveils God’s plan of eternal plan for man after he must have been saved from sin, death and all that is mortal:
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Herein lies the destination of man only if he would allow Jesus to fix his moral compass and remove every luggage of sin.
To this end, top on the list of the serious life traveler’s pack would be Jesus as a traveling compass. Acknowledging Him as the only one who would help fix his diversion, helping him to rediscover a right path and keeping him close to bring him safely home.
Jesus, himself having been a traveler in life’s journey laid an example for all travelers in the way he navigated his own pilgrimage, and the scriptures encourages us to follow his leading in Hebrew 12:2:
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God’.
Reading: Hebrew 12
