The Pilgrim

The Levites had no earthly inheritance because God Himself was their inheritance.  Followers of Christ have been told --

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a[special] people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

The priests had no earthly inheritance, and neither do we of the new covenant priesthood.  We are both princes and priests.

And if [we are His] children, [then we are His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His spiritual blessing and inheritance], if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory. [Born anew] into an inheritance which is imperishable [beyond the reach of change] and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you. - Romans 8:17; 1 Peter 1:4

No one can appreciate a good meal like those who love the one who provided it.  No one can enjoy marriage like the one who knows its Architect and understands the greater reality that marriage foreshadows.

C.S. Lewis said, “Because we love something else more than this world, we love even this world better than those who know no other.” Or as he said in a letter to a woman who feared losing the memory of her husband, "When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased."

Pilgrims have not seen heaven, but they have read about it and dreamed about it.  The live with the exhilarating assurance that at this very moment their beloved Saviour is making it ready for them.

We have joy whenever this world reminds us of the next.  And we have comfort whenever it does not.  We have the promise of a new heaven and new earth, where the worst elements of this world - sorrow, pain, death and the tears they produce - will be gone forever. Yet we also know that the best elements of this world - love, joy, wonder, worship, and beauty - will not be gone but intensified and perfected in the remade world.

“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next… It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither" - C.S. Lewis