Baggage Claim

Everyone has baggage. You know what I mean. By the time we become adults (whenever that is!) we enter into relationships with assumptions, expectations, and perceptions that have been created and molded by our past experiences. Some of us only have a few handbags. Others of us carry multiple suitcases, heavy and cumbersome and difficult. You don't have to look too far to find evidence of this truth. A woman who's been betrayed before may move on to be suspicious of a man who's always been true. A child who was verbally abused will grow up into a man who finds it difficult to accept praise from the most sincere admirers.  Even an animal that's been beaten may flinch and cower at the sight of a broomstick or a raised arm, no matter how long you have loved and nurtured it. We all relate to others based on what we know. We all look at the world through our own little glasses of experience. If that experience has been positive, life can be a wonderful adventure. If it's been bad, life can feel like a prison of doubt, fear, and suspicion.

God knew we would have certain ways of thinking. He knew that we would go into new relationships expecting from new people what we had always received from the old ones. When we do that, we end up "punishing" the new people for the way the old people treated us, whether we mean to or not. That's not fair to anyone, and it's not the way God works. But old habits die hard, so what to do?

The good news is that God's Word tells us that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17) It also implores us, "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2, NLT) The way most of us are used to hearing that goes like this: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:2, NIV)

 

How do I get my mind renewed then? Well, in John 8:31-32, Jesus said to those who believed in Him, "'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" If I follow His commands, I will know the truth.  If I learn to respond to people the way He tells me to rather than reacting out of emotional "baggage", I will eventually stumble onto the truth. I have to do what He wants me to do to know what He wants me to know. And I have to know the truth before it can set me free. After all, the medicine can't help me until I swallow it, right?

 

But here's the big revelation I've received recently. The truth I must know in order to find freedom is not just the glorious truth about God. It's also the sad truth about myself. It's about the wrong ways I've been doing things. It's about the wrong motives which have compelled me. It's about that baggage I've tucked away in my heart that's been weighing me down. I didn't even know it was there.

 

But thank God He showed me! In the following of His commands, I've found His truth. In the finding of His truth, my mind is being renewed. In the renewing of my mind, I'm becoming free from all that stuff I didn't even know was still there.

 

What past experience dictates how you respond to others? What truth do you need to know about yourself today? Not sure?  Just ask God. "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." (James 1:5) You might be surprised at what's waiting for you in the baggage claim area.

 

 

 

Father, thank You for Your endless wisdom. Thank You that You know me even better than I know myself. (Psalm 139) Thank You for the gentle ways You reveal not only Yourself to me, but also the ways You show me who I  really am. Teach me to be humble before You, Lord, and to accept the truth, even when it's not pretty. I want to be more like Jesus, whatever it costs me.

 
In His transforming love,
Amy
 
 
copyright 2010, Amy Wallace