Spiritual Baggage

A few years ago, it almost feels like a lifetime now, there was a youth group in my area known as 2:42. This group organized by high school students who wanted to get to know more about their faith and get to know their Savior better met in a quaint basement and were lead by Pastor Brian Johnson. The purpose of this group was to devote two Friday nights (sometimes 3) a month to challenge each other and dig deeper into their budding faith. The name behind the group came from the book of Acts in chapter 2 verse 42: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." And to me and the people involved this was a slice of heaven. Most of the friends I have now are the people I met through that group. These were the people who helped me understand that the God of the universe wanted me to rest in His hands. He wanted to know me and me to know and love Him.

As a born and raised Catholic this concept was lost on me, but by the end of the first meeting I attended my heart swelled with the idea of a God who was not waving his finger at me and shaking his head but rather holding out both arms and awaiting my embrace.

For a little over two years the group flourished under the mentoring of Pastor Johnson and grew fairly quickly and saw a handful of attendees baptized (myself included.) But God had greater plans for everyone involved in the group. God called Pastor Johnson away from the group to go minister in Michigan and leave the group to continue on it's own being led by the very students who started the group. This went well for a few months but quickly faltered and we saw many who had been baptized within the group fall away from their faith and get lost again in the earth.

2:42 has now been officially shut down for a couple years and my friends and I are all in college and moving on with life. Getting married, engaged, meeting that potential "special someone" and realizing who God has made us out to be under His guidance.

I recently got out of a relationship that lasted a little over a year and did some things I'm not particularly proud of, but what hurts the most was the way I view myself now after everything and knowing how badly I hurt my Savior.

But that's the great thing about Jesus: He forgives unconditionally. When we confess our sins He holds us in His pierced hands and says "It's okay, I understand" and just comforts us. He is the ultimate comfort. He takes our sins/spiritual baggage and loses it better than the O'Hare airport.

So what's the benefit from being baggage free?

• There's no carry ons to load into your overhead bin
• We are free to be who God wants us to be

I mean, c'mon, wouldn't a vacation be so much easier if you didn't have to pack and run through so many checklists to make sure you have everything?

Giving up your baggage to Christ is like having a relative who lives out of state and you go to visit them and they tell you "Don't bother packing. As soon as you get here we're going out and buying you everything you'll need. And you can stay in our brand new bed we just got." Jesus says the same to us, except He already paid for everything we could ever need.

The problem is we justify our desire to bring our baggage anyway "Oh, well that's great, but I think I want to bring my pillow... Just in case" Why would you still need to bring anything when it's all sitting there waiting for you?

You may say "Well, I'm just this person, I don't deserve it." Whenever I hear someone excuse their life or an action by using the word "just" you're underestimating the Creator of the universe. Jeremiah thought he could justify God's will for him "But I said, "Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don't know anything. I'm only a boy!" (Jer. 1:6 The Message) If we put another way Jeremiah is saying "I'm just a kid!" To which God replies, "Don't say, 'I'm only a boy.' I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there. I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it. Don't be afraid of a soul. I'll be right there, looking after you." (Jer. 1:7 The Message) God is taking Jeremiah's angst and worries (spiritual baggage) and saying I'll hold the world, you just go talk to My people.

The reason I share this sequence with you is because in 2004 a movie came out called "Finding Neverland" starring Johnny Depp as British play write and author J.M. Barrie. In the first few minutes of the film Barrie is at the park entertaining his new acquaintances, the Llewelyn Davies family, and about to perform with his dog Porthos who they are imagining is a bear when the second youngest boy, Peter, says "This is absurd. It's just a dog." To which Barrie memorably replies "Just a dog? Just? Porthos dreams of being a bear, and you want to shatter those dreams by saying he's just a dog? What a horrible candle-snuffing word. That's like saying, 'He can't climb that mountain, he's just a man', or 'That's not a diamond, it's just a rock.' Just."

I believe that this is where we get the word 'just'ify. We can't read our Bible today, we're just too tired. I'd get more out of church if it was just a bit shorter. I'd listen more to the paster if he'd just keep his sermons shorter. Just. It's quite a powerful adjective when you want it to be.

My final movie reference for this post comes from Robert Zemeckis' "The Polar Express." Throughout the movie our main character; Hero Boy, knows that wherever he's going is somewhere special but he doesn't want to believe whole heartedly that he is in fact going to the North Pole because he's afraid of being tricked and being let down. Towards the end of the movie every child hears Santa's sleigh bells ringing as the reindeer are passing. Everyone but Hero Boy who wants so badly to hear the bells magical ring. Finally he opens his heart and lets his vulnerable side open to the thought that there is a Santa and he is real and he hears the bells and describes them as the most beautiful sound ever.

This is a perfect analogy for giving your faith and life to Christ and how acceptance of His sacrifice will bring the Holy Spirit into our lives. In order to hear God's will we need the Holy Spirit to guide our lives. It the *OnStar to our Christian walk. We need to allow ourselves to be vulnerable and open our hearts and believe in the One who sacrificed everything to allow us to know Him better.

So, please this Christmas season, open your heart to the Reason for the season. He will give you the greatest gift you can ever receive. And I pray for those who are saved but still have reserves and have not given their baggage to the One who will make the journey so much lighter.

God bless anyone and everyone who reads this.