We certainly have no trouble thinking of Abraham that way, a man who left his home not knowing where God was going to take Him. His whole life was a pilgrimage, dwelling in tents as an alien in the very land that was promised to him. Concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the writer of Hebrews says, “all these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seem them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). They never saw the fulfillment of the covenant, the mystery unfolded, the big picture revealed, but still they were pilgrims. How much more ought we, recipients of better promises, under a better covenant, be willing to be sojourners in this land because we know we’re going to a better country?

I offer these suggestions to help us stay on the pilgrim’s pathway.

Find where you fit. It is just part of our nature to want to fit it, to blend in with our culture. No one wants to be a misfit, much less stay one. But when you lose your identity as a pilgrim, you lose your identity as a Christian. The commonality behind the words sojourner, stranger, alien and exile is the fact that Christians don’t fit in where they live. We have no business trying to belong in a world that is not our home.

You’re either apart from the world or you’re a part of it. In making your choice, remember that Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Where is your citizenship? Finding where you fit involves finding where you don’t fit.

Don’t be afraid to act like a foreigner. People who dress differently, talk differently, and act differently are going to be treated differently. Peter addressed the 1st Century Christians as “aliens and strangers” to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles” (1 Pet. 2:11-12). His solution was for them to keep doing what they’d been doing, to show the world where they belonged.

You prepare for the next world by living well in this world. Fleshly lusts have no place in the spiritual person, a pilgrim whose mind is somewhere else. Talking like a foreigner is no embarrassment to him whose true citizenship is in heaven. Dressing like a foreigner is no problem for a young lady who covets no attention for herself but wants peoples’ eyes to be focused on her Master in heaven. “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Heb. 11:16). Let us, then, not be ashamed to be called His pilgrims.

Keep looking for the city. The pilgrim’s journey will eventually come to an end. Those who spent their whole lives wandering, dwelling as strangers and exiles, will finally reach their home and have a city to call their own. It is the city which has foundations that Abraham was looking for (Heb. 11:10), the inheritance Peter describes as being reserved (1 Pet. 1:4), the abode that John says is made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2).

Heaven is a place for misfits and outcasts, a place where everyone fits in and everyone belongs. That’s because everyone will look like and talk like and be like the God who brought them safely inside the city.

Stay on the pathway, pilgrim. Traveling days are almost over.