As humans we tend to carry more baggage than we need. We burden ourselves with a huge weight on our shoulders that we don’t need to, when we can put it down for God to carry.
When we visit a big airport, one thing we see is all sorts of baggage. I picked up a friend from the airport last year. I was meeting her at the baggage claim in doing so, I noticed the huge amount of luggage people had. I thought that’s a awful lot of weight in those bags and airlines have strict rules about how much each person is allowed.
It made me wonder how much baggage we carry all the time in our lives. How much baggage do we carry that we were never intended to bear.
Odds are we have bags in our hands right now. We pick up a suitcase of guilt, and a sack of discontent. We have a draped bag of weariness on one shoulder and a garment bag of grief, add a backpack of doubt an overnight bag of loneliness, and a trunk of fear, and pretty soon we are juggling more luggage than we can handle. No wonder people are tired at the end of the day. Carrying all that baggage is exhausting,
Baggage is our human condition. The question is how we deal with our baggage. Do we embrace it and learn from it? Or are we hurting under by it, unable to carry it, and then resort to ineffective coping mechanisms that can continue to hurt us?
The dictionary not only defines baggage as personal belongings packed in suitcases for traveling, but also past experiences or long-held ideas regarding burdens and impediments. The emotional baggage we carry around gets heavy and sometimes we don’t even realize we have picked it up. It can get in the way of our thoughts, hinder our growth, and slow us down. We often take on a lot of unnecessary weight and suffer the consequences.
Can you imagine someone who goes on a hiking trip bringing 10 bags filled with clothing? Huffing and puffing the entire weight all the way. That would be stupid. We would probably tell them that they should leave everything behind, right? Carrying too much weight slows us down and tires us out, but carrying nothing at all may cost us our lives. But going on a hike without water or the necessities also costs us our lives.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
We have to get rid of our baggage. The reason we are burdened is that we hold on to things too long. God doesn’t automatically remove our burdens without our permission. He tells us to cast them onto Him.
Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Yeshua…”
There are three ways to handle our baggage. I call it the A.B.C. method:
A. Assess your baggage
Search you heart and pray that God would reveal the baggage you’re carrying.
Psalm 139:23-24 says,
“Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”
B. Beware of Baggage
Baggage can come from anywhere. Be aware of situations that cause you to worry or compare yourself. Also, beware of other people’s baggage. You can sometimes see it in their attitude, choices, and words. Don’t let another person’s baggage create more of your own. I learned the hard way, and I carried my mother’s baggage for years. There is no point in denying or pretending our baggage doesn’t exist. It won’t go away, and there is nothing we can do to cover it up.
C. Check your baggage
Leave it all at God’s feet. Drop your bags and let Him pick them up. There is no weight limit. It doesn’t cost more for the heaviest bag. No matter what you’re struggling are -no matter you’re choices, your behavior, it doesn’t matter. Check your bags at the cross.
Whether we’ve had a troubled childhood, a bad marriage, or life was handed to us on a silver platter, we all have baggage. And that baggage affects everything we will ever do, every relationship, every opportunity we are ever given. But we can allow the living God to help us manage each day as it comes, in His strength, now our own. Jesus offers to handle every situation that comes our way.
From Pity to Praise 