Have you ever been to an airport and watched people with their luggage?
They are weighed down. Some really struggle – pushing carts with four or five cases piled up, or pulling one big suitcase with other bags strapped over their shoulders. The baggage slows them down and hinders their walking as they try to get to their destination.
I’m sure some people would love to be able to take their cases full of valuables and necessities to their airplane seat; but there just isn’t room. The flight would not be enjoyable and besides that, the airline simply would not allow it.
I feel a sense of relief to be able to get my bags to the check in, put them onto the conveyor belt and see them whisked away to their proper place!
When I watch the luggage struggle, I’m reminded of how people carry their burdens of guilt, shame, and fear with them as they attempt to live their life. It just doesn’t work. Our baggage ruins every relationship. Worst of all, it ruins our relationship with God.
Sin weighs us down and keeps us separated from God. He is the only One who can lift our burdens from us and give us the peace and rest that we really need. Every sin we commit becomes a dark blot on our soul that only God can remove. If one person commits five sins a day and they live to be 60 years old, that is well over 100,000 sins! To make matters worse the Bible says if we are guilty of breaking one commandment, we are guilty of breaking them all.
This is an unbearable burden. No wonder people turn to all kinds of addictions to try to find peace. Peace is available. But the Devil keeps people fearful and holding onto their burdens, looking like those people who try to stuff their luggage into the overhead bins because they don’t want to be separated from their bags.
God won’t allow us to carry our baggage into Heaven. He doesn’t want us to carry it down here on earth either. Our baggage hinders us from being truly free to live as we were created.
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He bore the judgment for your sins at the cross, so that you wouldn’t have to carry them. He suffered the death penalty so that you could have real life and escape judgment forever.
Are you labouring, trying to make yourself happy and satisfied while you carry around your baggage of sin? Do you hold onto your guilt and burdens like those at the airport who don’t want to let their baggage go?
You can release your burdens to the Lord Jesus Christ and be free! Jesus promises that, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). It’s the only choice you can make.
How foolish it would be for people not to release their baggage onto the conveyor belt at the airport – they would miss their destination! Those who hold onto their sins will also miss the destination of Heaven, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Let go of your baggage and give it to the Lord. The work is done. Jesus said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
Why labour any longer?
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