Wave Conference Devotional – Day 13

“I’m sorry, but your bag is over the weight limit…”

As my wife and I are getting ready for our trip, we kept reminding ourselves that the bag can only weigh 50 pounds. As we stuffed more and more clothes, shoes, toiletries and other items into the bag I would lift it up and say out loud, “I think we are still good.” The bag was all but bursting at the seams. We rolled it up to the check-in counter, placed the bag on the scale and prayed… That’s when we heard those words that no one wants to hear… “I’m sorry, but your bag is over the weight limit.” At this point we had two options. We could pay the extra charge for an overweight bag, or we could open the bag and transfer some of the weightier items to our carry-ons. So we did what any reasonable person would do, and opened that bag up in the middle of the airport and started stuffing our carry-on bags with as much as we could.

We were traveling for a week, but felt it necessary to pack our entire wardrobe… because you never know. So for the entire journey we had to lug around these heavy suit cases, backpacks and every other bag we could find. We accepted the weight of the baggage because we thought it would be worth it… In reality, we never used half of the stuff that we brought.

As human beings we have the same propensity to carrying baggage. We go though difficult situations and decide to never let it go. We serve a God with limitless capacity, who wants us to cast our cares on Him, but often we decide to hold on to them! 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”

Our baggage in our hands keeps us from walking in the fullness God has for us. God actually wants us to live a limitless life full of abundance and blessing. Living that life in God, produces a life overflowing in us. Galatians 5:22-23 says it like this, “But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.” Don’t allow your baggage to keep you from God’s limitless life.

God has a limitless capacity to handle our baggage and He has a limitless life available to us, but how do we actually give God our baggage? The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5b, “…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Don’t allow your mind to wander. Don’t allow the frustration or bitterness to fester. Don’t give it a second thought. Your past is your past, and there is nothing we can do to change that, but we can change today. Pray for forgiveness, and forgive others as Christ forgave you… Even forgive yourself. Set the baggage on God’s shoulders and feel the weight being lifted off of yours!