Baggage

One night at church, Phil was telling me about how the Lord had been dealing with him. It seemed to him that God was telling him there were still things in his life, things he had been carrying around in his heart; you know, his inner most being … the part reserved for God, where God wants to live.

The Lord reminded him of people in an airport terminal; you've seen them yourself, the ones pushing the luggage with little wheels. Some people pull them behind them; others carry heavy suitcases or have them strapped on their back.

Many of these same people seem to struggle carrying their baggage. It slows them down. It wears them out. Some of the baggage is overweight. You can still get it all on the airplane … but the extra weight will cost you more. It's going to take something from you.

After the Lord spoke to him and showed him this example of the extra baggage that we choose to carry around with us; Phil did exactly what we should all do when God speaks to us … he talked to Him about it.

So he asked the Lord how to know which one or how much of the baggage he should put down.

The Lord said not to pick and choose, but to put it all down … and then He would tell him which ones to pick back up.

So … let us use this simple but profound example; to rid ourselves of things from our past … sin, hurts, failures, etc. that have become baggage that we carry around inside of us, in the place that really has only enough room for God to dwell in … our hearts.

God doesn't want just the leftover room in your heart … He wants all of your heart. God likes to fill the temple given to Him. I know the heart must be empty of all other things, because God will possess the heart alone; and as He cannot possess it alone without emptying it of all other things, so neither can He act there and do in it what He pleases, unless it be left vacant to Him.

Let's not only put down the baggage we carry with us; let's throw out all the stuff we also have stored that we don't have need of anymore.

Lord, thank you for Phil's willingness to share his heart with me.

I need it.