Life is such a journey. If we are wise men and women we will be seekers after truth, engaged on a quest. We will seek answers to the questions we have about life. We will be willing to move forward in our lives, from one stage to another, seeking to grow in faith, hope and love. It will be a search for meaning and purpose. We want to make sense of this life, we want to understand the universe, we want to know ourselves and what makes us tick, we want to contribute to human flourishing, we want to leave this place better for having lived in it, we want to feel that our lives have been valuable, and that we have matured and grown spiritually, that we have lived our lives to the full.

The Magi were restless to learn. They were willing to get on the road, and invest in a journey costly to them in time and treasure. They were willing to give their best to reach their goal. We are given the same opportunities, if not more than they had. We have the unprecedented opportunity to learn about every facet of life: about our mind, our emotions, our sensations, our will, our intuition, our attitudes, our behavior and our beliefs. Life is a journey in which we can grow in understanding and wisdom. We have the means to widen the range of our experiences. We can develop new and ever more healthy attitudes and emotions. We can sharpen our spiritual intuitions. All this takes time. God has given us a lifetime in which to learn and to grow. Over the years if we persevere on our journey we will get closer to our goal.

What is that goal? For the Magi it was the place where the child was born - it was to enter into the presence of God on earth. It was to bow down and worship this divine incarnation. Does that not seem a strange goal for such exalted figures, who stood in the presence of kings who valued their counsel? Yes, it is. All the more reason for us to ponder in our hearts the nature of that child, and what he portended for our salvation. If he contained the answers of the Magi's quest then what answers does he have for us now?

What is our goal for life's journey? What do we want to become? The world is full of answers to this question. All humanity seeks an answer to the purpose of life. Oprah Winfrey, in introducing Barak Obama in a rally in Iowa said that "We are here to evolve! That is our purpose on earth." But evolve into what? Where are we going? For many it means that we are seeking our authentic identity, harmony, balance, a source of significance. The goal is self-fulfillment, which is acceptable to an individualistic culture as long as I do no harm to others. "I have a right to my own happiness. I have to be true to my own inner self." There is no cost involved, no authority to acknowledge, no sacrifice required. "Follow your passion" is the mantra. In contrast the Magi subordinated their comfortable lifestyle to their quest, to follow the star, to put themselves in harms way.

Many years before the Magi, perhaps some 2000 years before Jesus, Abraham was called by God to go on a journey. He was to go to a place that would be his inheritance. (Hebrews 11:8) He obeyed and went. He was willing to get on the road and move forward in life, even though he did not know where he was going. He followed his star day by day. He only had orders a day at a time. His journey was on a need to know basis. He did not know the final destination when he set out. But he saw himself as the heir of a great promise. He trusted in God to guide him. He looked forward to the day when he would no longer live in a tent, a stranger in a strange land, but he would live in a city with foundations, whose architect and builder was God. He was longing for a better country - a heavenly one. He was living by faith in that promise when he died. He did not receive the things promised in this life. They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. He saw his whole life as a journey, and his goal was to reach the promised land.

Is our goal any different? We are called to inherit these promises, where God will be present, as he was in Jesus, in the city of God, the new Jerusalem. In the new heaven and the new earth, the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, "God's dwelling place will be among his people. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:3,4)

The goal of our journey is to reach the destination God has promised us. That inheritance will be characterized by personal wholeness. The afflictions we now have - pain, tears, suffering, mourning, and even death itself, will pass away. Sin will no longer reign and we will be freed from the imperfections which weigh us down. We will be what God intended us to be right from the beginning. The ravages of our fallen nature will be past. We will be whole, complete, fulfilled, at peace.

All this is not to say that we must wait for the completion of our journey before we experience the presence of God or know the meaning of wholeness. Along the way there are hints and intimations of what it means to dwell in God's presence. There are moments in this life when the veil is pulled aside and we know God in the very depths of our own being.

Likewise, we can begin to experience the meaning of wholeness. We find that we can grow as a person. We can work on overcoming certain traits that diminish us and hold us back on our journey. We can also develop new traits as we seek to be filled with the Spirit. We can learn to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Seeing life as a journey, and being willing to move forward toward the goal God has set before us, affects how we live each day.

The person who believes that his life will one day be abruptly terminated by death. with nothing beyond it, will decide quite differently from the believer how he invests his time, how he relates to other people and to the needs of the world, how he uses his money, even how he will face death. The believer who sees that death merely marks a transition from an earthly life to an after life lived in God's presence, invests his energies in ways that relate to the Kingdom of God.

The believer's goal is to dwell in the presence of God as a whole person. It is a goal that draws him ever onward.

At times this goal is dim and half-forgotten. But then come those moments of insight and knowing. His goal is crystal clear once again. But dim or clear, the goal is very real. We cannot escape the restless longing to grasp it. Without this goal life is empty, flat, devoid of purpose and we are lost.

(Some material adapted from Pilgrimage, Richard Peace, Baker, 1976)