Baggage

The other day I was reading personal ads with a family member for the entertainment value.  Funny how some of these people lament their being single and seem to be completely clueless as to why when complete strangers can read a few sentences that they wrote and almost instantly determine why they have yet to find their "soul mate."  At times, we humans seem to be oblivious to our own faults.  Reminds me of the Bible verse in Luke 6:42 which says, "How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

There is the ad that makes Star Trek references throughout, the man who calls himself "the wolfman" and references wherewolves and the lady who wants a partner willing to marry her.......the only catch is..... she is already married.  We read through the ads at times laughing so hard it hurt but at the same time noticing some trends.  One of the recurring themes that popped up in ad after ad was people stating that they did not want somebody "with baggage".  Ouch!  Is baggage all that bad?  I mean really, how do you get through this life without picking up some baggage along the way.  I dare say that if you show me a person without baggage, you are showing me a. a liar or b. someone who will fall apart in the slightest storm.

The way I see it, I have a full set of luggage.....the soft-sided carry on, the cosmetic bag, the large roll along, the medium sized roll along, the garment bag, etc.  Yep, a full set of luggage all collected amidst the trials of life.  Believe it or not, there is good news though.  See, God knew we would pick up baggage along the way and would grow weary under the burden, there is no way to avoid it for, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and sin produces baggage.  Sometimes it is our own sin and sometimes it is the sin of others that produces baggage in our lives but it is always there.  But, He also promised to be our porter!!!    Matthew 11:28 & 29 says, "Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

So, why are we all carrying around this baggage that weighs us down and apparently scares off the high quality folk posting personal ads?  Because we don't know.... we don't know that all we have to do is ask and God is there waiting to take our load.  You see, the promises in the Bible do us no good if we don't know they are there.  The enemy loves to keep us ignorant and struggling when we have a God that is able to feed a crowd of 5,000 with 5 small loaves of bread and 2 little fish and still have leftover, we have a God who gave us the keys to the kingdom of heaven, which we put up on the shelf in our teepee for safe keeping?  Everyone knows that is a ridiculous analogy yet, it's true.  

What baggage are you carrying?  What burdens are you buckling under today?  What hope inside of you, have you let die because of hurt and disappointment?  

He's a perfect gentleman, standing there offering to take your bags but you have to give them over.  Let God be your porter.  Give it all over to Him and don't hold back.  He loves you and He will give you rest.