“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”(I John 1:9 NKJV)
I received a picture of my youngest granddaughter the other day. Dressed in cute pink shoes, her curly hair held up in a contemporary style, clothed in what I have come to call her style, she is holding up a sign decorated with hearts. The sign reads, “1st DAY of PRE-SCHOOL.”
If you have been debating whether to go with one strap of two straps when you carry a back pack or book bag, her picture informs us that the two strap alternative is the en vogue style of her generation. Of course, I know Mom and Dad were proud to see their baby girl growing up. But I know they are elated that several years have to elapse before they have to double check with that age old question, “What’s in your book bag?” She’s too young to sneak in that bag a parental unapproved outfit to fit in with styles worn by her classmates, and if the hair trend stays afloat for awhile, there won’t be any hair styling equipment or forbidden make up in her book bag. Her book bag reminded me of how most people evolve in regards to carrying different types of bags as we grow older. We go from canvas book bags to leather book bags when we matriculate to college. And our bags just have to be different, unique in décor, and unlike anyone else’s. Think about the bag evolution. We go from book bags to work bags or briefcases. We have bags for weekend getaways and bags to test the airline carry-on regulations. We even have bags for little dogs! Some of us have a plethora of bags; a perfect bag for different things on our personal schedules; work bags, lunch bags, workout bags that never see the gym, church bags, and weather emergency bags in case ever need to survive when the car decides to stop running when the weather is very hot or extremely cold. There are bags called purses or in the case of males, messenger bags or male purses that are also known as “murses.”
Like my granddaughter, carry the bags you choose, appropriate for your particular situation. Carry the bags, but hear this one thing today. You do not have to carry the mental baggage of times past when you did not do something that would fit under the heading, “Behaviors of the Righteous.” Don’t carry around baggage of your past failings when temptation took you down a crooked path or led to you turning down a forbidden road. I say this because too many people are brought down by looking in to their past and seeing baggage full of skeletons, as the saying goes, that hide things we did in the past, but we now consider such things hideous. Let go of that baggage! The only good such baggage serves, and the only time you need it, is to share your testimony about where God brought you from or how He forgave you when you repented and on top of that, He cleansed you of all unrighteousness. Warning: Be careful not to let the tempter bring out that old baggage to use as a tool for tempting you to bring painful thoughts to your mind. Yes, I’m talking about, Satan. Don’t carry around that baggage!
And do me a favor, please. Don’t keep bringing up somebody else’s baggage; their past mistakes or misadventures in errant living. We are no different than them! We would not want our old baggage pulled out; baggage that is overflowing with things that do not represent the fact that we are no longer the same and have no desire to return to where we once were as we were going through our sanctification process. The Father has forgotten about our old baggage. Thank God! The Son died to pay the costs for our old baggage. Thank you Jesus! And our present baggage has a name tag on it that reminds us of where we are right now. It says, “Child of God.” And as my granddaughter has a sign on her book bag decorated with hearts of love, you hold up a behavioral sign everywhere you go; a sign decorated with hearts that remind you that your parent, your Heavenly Father, loves you! You better get going to worship now! Have a great time! Be blessed!
“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our guilty deeds. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.” (Psalm 103:10-12 NASB)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King