Jesus & My Baggage

The Jesus that I know seems relatively unconcerned and rarely talks with me about “my baggage,” the stuff that stumbles and plagues me concerning how I want to be and what I want to do. You know, my frustrated desire for self-righteousness, my work on getting myself right, so that I’ll finally make myself work right. That. Obviously, He sees and knows another way and another me, the real me, the me that He made a new creation and focuses His attention right there. Perhaps today I will look there, too, and let Him handle the baggage. He seems pretty good with it.

Do you let Jesus handle your baggage, or are you still too caught up in it to let it go? Are you not done working on it yet? He really is perfect with our junk and sin and baggage that sticks with us because we insist upon handling it and doing something with it—at best, moving it around, from here to there.

But Jesus picked you, baggage and all, because He has a plan to be great with you—to handle your junk and baggage and sin, and the stuff that plagues you. So whether it’s drinking too much, sexing too much, swearing too much, being mean too much, or WHATEVER too much, Jesus is really good right there—with you and for you, so you can let it go, look away from it, and look at Him.

He knows all about it anyway. He has been an expert baggage-handler for a long time. It’s part of His plan. Writing to the baggage-overloaded Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 1:26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

Reading it now, does this reveal a little bit of why you are so appealing to God and His choice? Do you ever look around at your junk and stuff and baggage and think, “What am I gonna do with this?!” Well, that’s part of His plan to look good in what He does for you. See?

1 Corinthians 1:30 It is because of him that you and I are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, He has become your righteousness and mine, He has become your holiness and mine, and He has become your redemption and mine. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

And why wouldn’t you boast in what He has become for you so you don’t have to try? See? It’s all a set up for Jesus. Have you thought of your baggage, your particular brand of junk or sin or fleshly stuff in that way, that it’s something for Him to deal with and to carry so you can do something else? It is.

So look at Jesus and how He is for you and with you, and let go of controlling your baggage. He can handle it. He can carry it for the rest of your days.

(This is a transcript of yesterday’s video, “Jesus & My Baggage,” and is for those who might rather read than watch. To see the video, click https://youtu.be/D7gh3pPbsDo, or scroll down this blog page.)