SETTLER OR PILGRIM

I am an American because my forefathers were not settlers; they were pilgrims. You might ask what separates a settler from a pilgrim. They can look, speak, and act the same, yet they differ in heart, mind, and soul. A settler is satisfied to stay where he is, convinced he has arrived at the place where he will live an

d find his destiny. A pilgrim lives with a different outlook: he keeps moving forward, seeking greater purpose and opportunity in the places he has already visited in his prayers.

On my one side my grandfather was a first-generation immigrant from Luxembourg in Europe, on the other side my great, great, great grandfather James boarded the ship Hannibal in Dublin Ireland and came to America in 1812. They both died far, from their birthplace where their destiny had required them to seek and find.

I think the heart of the pioneer is best described by Theodore Roosevelt in his famous Man in the Arena.

“It is not the critic who counts not the person who points out how the strong man stumbles, or the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who’s face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly who errs, who comes short again and again, for there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who actually strives to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms’ the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who in the end knows the triumph of high achievements, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Jesus was a pilgrim. The Bible teaches that He left heaven with the purpose and vision that all would be saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).

Just as my forefathers faced hardship, hunger, and trials, Jesus faced them ten thousands of times more. He came and gave his life knowing that future generations would also need the heart of a pilgrim for the will of His Father to be accomplished. For you see Christianity must return to the heart of the Father and the individual believers take up their cross with the heart of the pilgrim.

When the pastors live with a vision of an empty house with the children all gone to battle, then we will fulfill the heart of the Father. When every believer knows the future holds conflict and battle that they must volunteer to join if they are to fulfill their destiny.

This is what Jesus was saying to his disciples when he told them to lift up their eyes unto the field so white unto harvest. The church must take up the cross and live ready to go NOW! TODAY! EVERWHERE!  Shouting from the housetops across the whole world until the ends of the earth has heard the Good News and then Jesus will return.

Every person ever saved has been called to be a pilgrim and every church there has ever been or ever will be is called to have a pilgrim’s heart and live and preach a global vision!