“But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared” (Psalm 130:4).
Never will I forget the first time I was charged for excess baggage. I was in Africa on a missionary jaunt, and I had the feeling that the agent looked me over and said to himself, “This guy looks good for some extra money!” No, he didn’t show a gun, but it was a situation over which I had no control. Either empty out the suitcase or pay the piper! I paid.
Yes, since then, I’ve paid for excess or overweight luggage more than a few times. The solution: travel lighter. You are reasonably certain that the 20-kilos or 44 pounds and no more will get you home free.
Traveling light is good business in life as well. The more stuff you carry with you, the more difficult it is to get through life without stumbling over people. And what do people carry with them which they should get rid of?
Get rid of fear! Back in the 70s, Leonard was sure that the bomb was going to be dropped, and the only way to handle that fear, so he thought, was to dig a bomb shelter in his backyard. Leonard told his friends that when they got torched, he and the gophers would come up out of their holes unscathed. No, it wasn’t a nuclear blast which got him. His friends found him in the bottom of his hole. A heart attack took him instead. Whatever you fear becomes your master; it’s a heavy burden to live with—a large price to pay.
Get rid of your malice towards others. When I moved to the Philippines in 1974, I was visited by a fellow who listens to Guidelines over FEBC. Under his arm was a file about three to four inches thick. As he sat and talked, he grew angry and agitated. Ten years before he had been terminated at work. The file contained the running dialogue of suits and incriminations. Instead of getting on with his life, he gunny sacked his hatred and anger. He was the loser. Today it’s a proven fact that when you have malice and hatred in your heart, it affects your health. It’s heavy excess baggage.
Get rid of your resentments too. When Jim’s dad passed away, he expected not only to get his share of the inheritance but personal things which his dad had promised to him. But before anything was distributed, some of the other family members got there first and what he thought was his went out the door with them. Sure, he was angry. For years he didn’t even speak to some of his brothers. “If that’s how they want it, then I’ll have nothing to do with them,” he said. The trivial items which his dad had promised were sentimental but not of much value. For more than a decade, he lived with the bitterness. Eventually, he forgave them, but it cost him a decade of isolation. Resentment is excess baggage you can’t afford in life. There’s a high charge in the currency of your health when you keep this one.
Well, time allows my mentioning only one more item of excess baggage which you need to shed. It’s your guilt that you carry with you day in and day out. To attempt to leave guilt behind without understanding that only God’s forgiveness can really take this one away would be akin to making yourself think that you are warm when actually you are freezing. The good news though is God can and does forgive, but you’ve got to ask Him to remove your guilt and sin. David, who knew what guilt is, said, “But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared” (Psalm 130:4).
I’ve never liked the thought of paying for excess baggage at either the airport or the bar of God’s justice. So, travel light. In life and in death, it’s the only way to go. Think about it.
Resource reading: Hebrews 12:1-2.
