When a person is born of the Spirit there is an immediate change of gravity in the heart. A call from beyond is deposited in the spirit. The inner life is no longer chained to the material and temporal. They are in tune to the upward call; pulled towards the unseen reality promised by God. Their hearts are set on a pilgrim journey.

In late summer the monarch butterfly migrates from all over North America to a remote mountain site in Mexico. During this time it is not uncommon to see hundreds of them clinging to branches of trees and shrubbery as they rest on their journey. Within a 100 mile radius, scientists have found 16 sites where millions upon millions of butterflies spend the winter. No one knows how these butterflies find their way to these tiny plots of land. Each new generation has never been there before. Something has been programmed into their bodies of a migratory instinct that directs them towards a place they have never seen, but which they know they must find. This is the nature of the pilgrimage of faith.

Abraham experienced 'the call of the unseen'. He sought a better country, a building whose builder and maker is God, a city with true foundations, all of which summed up the compelling vision of a promised future. He held it in his heart as a guarantee, knowing that the One who had promised it to Him was faithful.

What did Abraham really see? Jesus said, "Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56). What Abraham saw in his spirit caused his inner being to gravitate towards heaven. What He was seeking after was Christ Himself. For Christ perfectly articulates all that the better, heavenly country represents. He Himself is what illuminates the promised city (Revelation 21:23). He is the magnificent obsession that draws us heavenward.

Have you experienced 'the call of the unseen'? Are you dissatisfied with things at present and long for something more? Or have you become self-satisfied, comfortable and complacent? Are you a pioneer of the heavenly way or have you settled down into an institutionalized form of religious tokenism?

God has set our hearts on a heavenly migratory path. He is the God of the pioneer! A probable meaning of the word 'Hebrew', I am told, is a 'person from beyond'. The word 'church' (ekklesia) means 'called out ones'. We are strangers and pilgrims here, seeking the restoration of God's rule, full conformity to the way of heaven; full conformity to Christ.

Knocked down to size To Realize There must be something more Something worth living for,