John Bunyan, in his perennial classic The Pilgrim's Progress, explains the Christian life as a holy pilgrimage along a long, narrow road leading to the Celestial City. Throughout this pilgrimage, the Christian pilgrims encounter mired bogs of disbelief, mountainous crags of fear, valleys of shadowy death, castles of doubt, and cities of vanity, all created by Satan to steal away weary pilgrims from their intended destination for eternal damnation.
Every so often, the travelers run into one of the perils of their pilgrimage and they are faced with some trial of faith. However, without fail, as each of these trials concludes and the worn pilgrims continue on their journey, they are comforted by some sort of oasis, by which the travelers are met by other pilgrims who pull back the veil and teach the pilgrims about the reality of the world and Satan's continuall attacks. These encounters are like salve for the pilgrims and encourage and equip them to continue on to the Celestial City.
The point is that as Christians we are traveling as pilgrims through this world, called to travel along that narrow way which is faith in Christ Jesus. However, our travels are not without pitfalls and distractions all poised by Satan to pull us away from our King and to eternal condemnation. Yet through all this, we must rest upon the sure promises of God made to us through Christ. We can depend on the blessings of promise that God has given to all those who claim Jesus is Lord. We can have confidence for this pilgrimage because we know that God has secured the way by the shed blood of His Son.
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