Vagabonds & Sojourners

There is a difference between running from something and running towardsomething. Cain and Abraham were both men on the move. Both lived unsettled lives. Both knew what it was to leave familiar places behind. From the outside, they might have looked remarkably similar—but spiritually, they could not have been more different.

Cain became a vagabond because of sin. After killing Abel, he was condemned to wander, unable to settle and constantly looking over his shoulder. His past followed him. In fact, the man who introduced murder into the world became afraid that someone would murder him. That is one of sin’s cruelest patterns: it keeps us running.

We can spend our lives believing the next place, relationship, opportunity, job, or chapter will finally quiet the restlessness inside. But changing our surroundings cannot fix what needs to be changed within us.

Then there was Abraham.

God also called Abraham to leave his home and live as a stranger in tents. Yet Abraham wasn’t running from judgment—he was running toward promise. He didn’t have all the details. God simply told him to go to a land that He would show him. That is the life of a sojourner.

People of faith move in obedience to the Word of God before they have all the details from the God of the Word.

Abraham didn’t build cities like Cain; he built altars. He worshipped. He followed. He kept walking because he trusted the One who had called him.

And sometimes, the land of promise must first become a land of pilgrimage before it becomes a land of possession. God told Abraham to lift his eyes and look at what He had promised—and then He told him to get up and walk through it. Seeing required faith, but possessing required movement.

That same challenge remains for the church today: don’t settle. God has not brought us this far so we can become comfortable with where we are. Buildings, accomplishments, and yesterday’s victories were never meant to become monuments to what God did. They should become launching points for what He wants to do next.

There are still people to reach. Prodigals to welcome home. Lives to restore. Young people to disciple. Churches to plant. Altars to build.

And there is hope for the vagabond who is tired of running. Your past does not have to become your identity. God can take someone who has spent a lifetime running from yesterday and transform them into someone pursuing tomorrow.

So the question is not simply, “Are you moving?”

The question is: What are you moving toward?

Don’t live looking over your shoulder. Lift your eyes. See the promise. Walk it out.

Be a sojourner.

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Family Worship Center | 1 Restoration Way, Plaster Rock NB | familyworship.ca

Recap of message by Pastor DR Mckillop