Have
you made any New Year’s resolutions for 2011? I shared mine yesterday - Scripture memorization. Maybe you want to spend more time with family…get in shape or get out of debt or get better
organized…quit smoking or drinking or some other bad habit…reach out to help
others and perhaps the most popular – lose some weight.
I want to lose some luggage!
For
some of you it might be just a carry-on bag.
Or maybe you need to lose the entire set. Most of us are far more bogged down with
baggage than we even realize.
How
many handbags of animosity do you carry…how many suitcases of resentment do you
pack…how many rolling bags of hatred do you take out of the closet…how many
extra pounds of grudges would the airline charge you for?
Take
your lead from the apostle Paul, who wrote to the Colossians: Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and
beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with
one another and…forgiving each other.
This
call to forgiveness, Paul writes, is not simply a nice suggestion but a
must. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Doesn’t sound like there are any loopholes,
are there?
Why
would we want to live otherwise? Who wants to live weighed down and bent over
carrying baggage with prevents the healing of hurts and emotions. That is not God’s design for His chosen ones.
You
see, sin – which includes that inclination to be baggage carriers – is our
greatest problem. Forgiveness – getting
that luggage out of our hands and off our backs – is our greatest need. Forgiveness is ours as God’s free gift to us!
However,
while that forgiveness is free, it also was costly. Jesus carried a heavy load – our baggage – to
a hill outside Jerusalem. His enemies
thought He had succumbed under all of that excess baggage. But three days later, Jesus rose
victorious. He is greater than the
greatest burden we can carry. There is
nothing the devil or the world or our sinful flesh can load upon us that Jesus
hasn’t already dealt with.
Maybe
you’ve tried to rid yourself of bags and bags of bitterness, anger and
resentment. And yet, you start a brand
new year saddled down again with this luggage you’d rather do with. What now?
Perhaps
this is why Jesus taught us to pray: forgive
us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
As we
pray in this petition, we are asking our Lord to let His love lead us, to take
charge of our lives. We put on His love
so that we might react with the same mercy toward others as Jesus has shown
us. Such forgiveness is the fruit of
God’s forgiveness in our lives.
Why
not make an exchange. Give Jesus your
burdensome luggage for His light and easy yoke.
Jesus wants to free you from that which separates you from your friend
or neighbor. He wants nothing to stand
in your way of loving and forgiving those who have become a burden for you.
What piece of luggage will you lose this year?
