24. Путник

A person who goes from place to place designated is a traveler. So we, Christians, from the day of our birth to the day of death, are travelers, walking along the path of life. One traveler has a long journey, the other a short one. Likewise, for us, our path in life is not equal - one ends his journey sooner, the other takes longer. A traveler on the way is afraid of any misfortune. “Take heed that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise, making use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15-16). The traveler is subject to all kinds of bad weather and storms. So with us, following our own path, every storm of troubles, misfortunes and temptations happens. The traveler neglects all this, but, enduring everything, goes to the intended place. Likewise, we must neglect, endure, and go to our desired Fatherland, all the troubles that befall us. The traveler is often attacked by robbers and stripped, and often killed, and so they are not allowed to reach the intended place. The same thing happens to us, so demons, like robbers, attack us and hurt and kill the unwary, and so they do not allow us to reach the desired Fatherland. Travelers protect themselves from robbers with weapons. So we must protect ourselves from demons with prayer and the word of God. The traveler always has in mind the place he is going to, and he tries to get there. So we should always have the heavenly Fatherland on our minds and strive to achieve it. “So run to receive,” the holy apostle tells us (1 Cor. 9:24). The further along the path the traveler goes, the shorter the path becomes. So the more we continue the path of our life, the more we approach the end. The traveler, having arrived at the place where he was going, is safe, calms down, and rejoices at the successful completion of his journey. So we, Christians, when we successfully complete our journey and arrive in the heavenly Fatherland, we will be safe, we will be freed from all troubles and misfortunes, we will calm down, we will rejoice in our eternal bliss, which we will receive through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen! “I have lifted up my eyes to You, Who dwells in heaven! Behold, as the eyes of slaves are turned to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a slave are turned to the hand of her mistress, so are our eyes to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for we are filled with much contempt; our soul is greatly saturated with reproach from the arrogant and humiliation from the proud” ( Ps.122:1-4). You might be interested in: