Ihave shared in the past that when we bought our home not too long ago we downsized. It’s been a painful process getting rid of things you thought you needed. A few weeks ago we cleaned out a mini-storage unit, you know the kind with the roll up door and a padlock. For almost two years we have been paying $40 a month for storing things we have not used in a million years. A lot of the things we keep are for the 24-yearold who used to live at our house. She’s now a grownup grad student and firstyear second-grade teacher who lives in a tiny studio apartment in the Montrose section of Houston. We love her but she has been advised that we can only keep her high school memories for so long. A wise pastor told me once, “Ken, everything has a shelf life.” This man was so right! When I found out you can only keep the things your 38-year-old oldest son (the Presbyterian pastor) made out of construction paper and crayons in kindergarten for so long I found freedom.
The Searchers, my favorite John Wayne movie, is on television every weekend so why do I need a DVD version when we have not had a DVD player in about 15 years. What I’m saying is I threw two boxes of video cassettes and DVD movies into the trash as fast as I could.
In some ways we call this stuff baggage and most of us have way too much of it. I think the church building on Sunday morning probably has more baggage than an airport. The baggage we carry are the things we just can’t get rid of. It’s not typically material things like I have described above, but rather emotional baggage. Things like lack of forgiveness, fear, anxiety, bitterness, pride and a lack of contentment among other things. How many of us feel imprisoned by the baggage we carry? I’m not sure what the catalyst was for me unloading the extra stuff we have been carrying around almost since the Blonde and I got married. Part of it was that $40 a month (I’m getting cheap in my old age) but part of it was the pain of picking up those boxes even one more time. What’s the answer?
It was easy to throw my boxes into the dumpster, but self-reliance and pride and discontent are a lot harder to unload.
I know it will be the Sunday School answer but it’s truth so here it goes: Jesus is the answer. It had to do with the religious rules the uptight religious leadership were placing on the people in the pew but it fits with what we are thinking together about. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
We have a supportive ear in Christ according to Hebrews 4:15, a “high priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses.”
The Apostle Paul told us that Jesus is the answer in Philippians 4:13 when he shared, “We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.” Hallelujah! We find rest, peace, comfort, courage and strength through Jesus! Tired of feeling weary? Tired of carrying around the baggage of insecurity, guilt and shame? Tired of worrying all the time? Throw that stuff down and run to Jesus. He wants you to travel life with a much lighter load than you have been carrying. He told me to tell you
that.
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