- Baggage
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Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
Your baggage is stuff from the past that keeps showing up.
Don’t carry unnecessary baggage. If you carry too much baggage on a trip, it slows you down, right? Years ago, Sandra and I were traveling with these dear friends of ours, Howard and Doris. Most of our trips outside the country, we’ve gone with Howard and Doris, they’re just our travel buddies and they love to travel, love the same kind of stuff. And so we were standing at Hartsfield behind the counter and we were putting our luggage up on the scale thing. And so Sandra had her back to the counter and she’s talking to Doris and Howard and I are putting the luggage up there.
So I put Sandra’s suitcase up and it went over the limit. And Howard sees it and he tapped Sandra on the shoulder and he says, “Sandra, you have a weight problem”. And the look in her eye was this is gonna be an awkward trip. And we have laughed about that for about five years. “Sandra, honey, you have a weight problem”. Anyway so there’s always a temptation to over-pack on a road trip, right? And on a road trip, it’s not a big deal, but on a life trip, it may be the biggest deal. Unnecessary baggage, unnecessary baggage, what happens? Unnecessary baggage on life trip, it’s a really big deal. Unnecessary baggage will slow you down and it’ll slow everyone down in your family and everyone around you who’s trying to do life with you. Baggage is that, this is that unresolved or partially resolved stuff from the past.
So there’s just something in us says, like, no I just have to carry this with me the rest of my life because it was such an integral part of my life, but it’s best to unpack and leave it behind. And the reason you know it’s best to unpack and leave it behind is because you want the people you’re doing life with to unpack there’s and leave there’s behind when it begins to complicate your life.The thing that’s so deceiving about this is the event itself gets further and further and further and further behind as you move forward. But the consequences in the shrapnel gets bigger and bigger and bigger and deeper and deeper.
See, when you’re hurt and when I’m hurt, it creates a debtor relationship. The hurt, the betrayal, the abandonment, whatever it might be it creates debt. They owe me a childhood. They owe me a first marriage back. They owe me the opportunity to put my kids in bed at night. They owe me an education. They owe me, they owe me, they owe me, they owe me, they owe me. And what happens is that their debt becomes your baggage. And I’ve been there. We lug it around waiting to be paid back. And while we’re lugging it around waiting to be paid back, the demons are lifting weights, lifting weights, lifting weights, lifting weights, get stronger and stronger and stronger. And the problem is of course the people from our past, they can’t pay us back. Half the time, they don’t even know they owe us anything.
And the other reason they can’t pay us back is because we come equipped with rear view mirrors, but no reverse. They can’t give you your childhood back or a marriage back or an opportunity back or career back. They can’t give it back to you. So cancel those debts, unpack all that stuff. Choose to forgive, cancel their debt. You just decide this is what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is I’ve decided you don’t owe me anymore. And who knows, unpack all that stuff, you might be able to get by and then carry on.