Everyone is on a journey toward eternity, and the time we have is our life. The question is: What is our goal during our brief yet precious journey through life? Most people choose the broad way, which is the way of the flesh, the way of our carnal lusts. The end of that way is death. Rom. 6:23. The narrow way leads to liberation from sin. On this way we have our fruit to holiness, and the end of it is everlasting life. V. 22. To come to our glorious goal, we need to receive the Holy Spirit who is stronger than all our evil tendencies that dwell in our flesh. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Gal. 5:16. This was impossible in the old covenant, but now it is possible. Rom. 8:3. Now it is possible to walk in Jesus’ and in the apostles’ steps victoriously and with joy. It is the only way that is safe and sure and which leads to the right of inheritance of all the promises. Jesus has gone this way before us, and God has confirmed by an oath to the heirs of promise that they can have a strong consolation to lay hold of the hope set before them. Heb. 6:17-20. God has always strengthened and blessed those who, in faith and in confidence, were willing to be led on this journey, and He has faithfully honored His promises to them. God blessed Caleb with strength and a long life because he had faithfully kept to the Lord his God during his journey through the desert and into the Promised Land. He received both a reward and an inheritance for each step he had taken in the Spirit of faith. He received Hebron as an inheritance because of the promise the Lord had given him by Moses. “So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.” Josh. 14:9-11. He was strong enough to go against large cities with strong fortifications. All this was written for our example, and Caleb is a radiant example to us of what it means to have faith and victory. Not a single enemy—irrespective of how tall and strong he was—could frighten him. He had God’s promise for every step he took, with the result that he could go only from victory to victory. “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.” Num. 14:24. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but the Spirit of power, and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Tim. 1:7. This spirit must be the driving force in our journey where we follow Christ and the saints. “That you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Col. 1:10. We have a great, high, and holy calling, and we are to walk worthy of our calling. Eph. 4:1. We shall also walk circumspectly. Eph. 5:15. As we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we shall also walk in Him. Col. 2:6. Only if we walk in the light as Christ is in the light can we have fellowship with one another. 1 John 1:17. Paul writes in Philippians 3:18: “For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” Paul had to say this weeping. There are not many enemies of the wooden cross of Calvary where Jesus died as an atonement for our sins. However, opposition arises when it concerns the daily cross we have to take up in order to follow Jesus. This is the cross over everything that comes from my “self,” and those who oppose this cross are at variance with the life and nature of Christ. If we walk without this cross, all the evil that dwells in our flesh will manifest itself, resulting in divorce, unrest, and all kinds of misery. “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23. If this cross is allowed to work a daily death over our evil self-life, it will be good in the heart, at home, and in the church. Then it will be as it is written in Acts 9:31: “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” “Therefore be followers of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Eph. 5:1-2. Since this is what is written, it must also be possible. Then life becomes rich and interesting. The way of the cross goes through sufferings and tribulations, but they are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18. “As they pass through the valley of tears, they shall make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; every one of them appears before God in Zion.” Ps. 84:6-7. Christ will soon gather His followers and share His eternal inheritance and glory with them. This glorious flock will constitute the new city of Jerusalem. “And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.” Rev. 21:24.Aksel J. Smith