How much baggage are we packing every day? Even if the luggage has wheels it's still hard to carry with us. Plus you have to climb over your own stack of baggage to get to a seat, to a person, to anything. That alone cannot only be exhausting but it can also damage the relationships you can't get to while dragging around so much baggage. (emotional or spiritual).
Obviously, I'm not talking about real luggage that you see most every person in an airport wheeling to or from their gate. I' m talking about the kind of baggage that we accumulate throughout our time on earth. As a single woman I hear people talk about single mothers and singles trying to date past their 20s having a lot of baggage to bring into a relationship. Probably so, but that's true of all of us. You can't live this world without having to deal with the baggage that begins to pile up - simply because of life experiences. Some of us may have a small overnight bag or one that fits in the overhead on a plane. But, some of us have a four piece set that matches and that expands to carry even more than it looks like it holds.
Tom Hanks, when he played Joe and the Volcano, showed his character "Joe" with huge luggage trunks that at one point made a boat to save them. He could carry a lifetime in those.
Even if you only have small baggage, it's packed with the experiences and memories every day so you can carry them with you every day. Maybe it's a failed relationship or marriage. Maybe it's a loss that has left you feelings alone and unsure of your future. Maybe it's fear of what could happen, or what happened to you as a child...it's baggage and think of it as this piece on the bed - no wheels to make carrying it easy. The full weight of the baggage will be weighing down on you.
Paul wrote to the Philippians and said that he considered anything other than his relationship with Christ to be rubbish. Actually, in it's original language the "rubbish" was a much stronger word it was, " manure, dung". So, he said his only goal was to make an intimate relationship with Christ...and to become like him, even to death.
But Paul knew that the baggage of the past would hold him back and weigh him down from achieving the goal of that intimate relationship with the savior....so Paul went on to tell the Philippians that he was pressing on to his goal - but the one thing he was doing...the ONE thing was "Forgetting what is behind " He was turning that baggage that he'd valued into rubbish in order to be able to achieve the goal of Christ.
Paul was saying that even the things that seemed important enough to hang on to them, and pack them in the baggage...To value even that which didn't truly have value was now nothing more than a pile of manure in the field or garbage to be thrown away.
What's in your baggage? What are you carrying around and keeping close to you as though it's highly valued...but is keeping you from getting to a goal of intimate close relationship with Christ. Being able to grow in Christ. Pray about it...and as Paul did, count it as dung or rubbish - throw it away and free up your hands and heart to reach out to Christ and be able to achieve the goal of being like him.
Write it down on a piece of paper and then take it outside and set it on fire...burning away the rubbish and hurts you've been carrying and free yourself to be able to use both hands and your heart to reach for that relationship Paul talked about with Christ.
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