Have you watched someone run through an airport with their luggage? It is usually loud and laborious, and somehow they manage to either trip on the luggage or maybe the child that they are pulling along and after all that, something almost always falls out of a pocket or a hand. All the things they are carrying actually slows them down. I think it’s the same for us and our faith journey. Jesus calls us into relationship with Him and says “come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,’ and yet we still want to hold on to all the stuff we were carrying before. Sometimes we will even give him our old baggage and pick up news ones. The worries and cares about life, and jobs and families, all the things that we want and don’t have or need and don’t see a way forward, God calls us to lay it all down. Not some of it. He isn’t looking for us to go halfsies with him because He needs our help. He wants all our burdens and cares and worries so that we can run unhindered. As Paul says, all the other stuff actually trips us up and prevents us from fully experiencing the rest and peace that comes from knowing and being in relationship with God. And that crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, they too say saying “put all that stuff down, it is only tripping you up. God has so much more for you.” Whatever we are carrying, no matter how long it is we have been carrying it, it is time to give it to God so that we fully experience all that He has for us.
by Kalesha Peters
