Have you ever watched the Southwest commercials where they talk about how much they love your bags?  You know, it’s where the baggage handlers are chasing after the bags as they go onto the plane, hugging them tightly before they leave, and shedding a tear when they fly away.  Right about the time you’re starting to get seriously freaked out by these people’s affection towards inanimate objects, and you’re feeling a little uncomfortable about watching anymore, they finally tell you that your bags fly for free.

I think the hardest part of living as a Christian is grasping the idea of grace and our identity in Christ, so I hit it on all the time, as a reminder mostly to myself and hopefully as an encouragement to everyone else.  I was talking yesterday, about how I seriously wonder about Christians who have never really struggled with sin in their life.  If you’re the perfect Christian, that was quoting scripture as you came out of the womb, this message probably isn’t going to help you much, so for the rest of us… read on.  I like being encouraged by Christians that I know have been beaten up, weathered a storm, and come out stronger, more dependent on God and more rooted in their faith.  These are Christians with baggage, ones that have struggled with every form of sin, yet know that this is not how God views them.

Can you imagine what life would be like if Jesus came up to you and said… I see you’re checking a bag and you have a carry on.  I’m going to need something for that checked baggage?  We could only respond by saying we didn’t bring our wallet, all we brought was baggage.  Now if Jesus just let the bags fly for free without paying for them, that would be merciful, but not just.  Instead Jesus pays for our baggage for us, thereby he is not only merciful, he is just, and he has extended to us grace – unmerited favor.  This shouldn’t surprise us though, this is who Jesus is, this is what He came to do.

Mark 2:16-17 – “And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

1 Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” 

Those sins, that baggage that you’re carrying around, thinking that God can not love you because you’re struggling is the very reason Jesus came to die.  Romans 5:8 – “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  That word “were” is very important and helpful, especially for those of us on this side of time and the cross.  Now many people understand that to mean that Christ died for us to pay for our sins at some past point in our lives, but after that we’re on our own.  No, Romans 5:8 says that we were still sinners, therefore all our sinfulness of our being from birth to death was put on Christ on the cross.  When He died, he didn’t die for some sub-set of our sins, he took all our baggage, everything seen and unseen, and bore the wrath of God in our place, so that we could be reconciled to Him.

No we are free.  We owe nothing for our baggage, and God’s even upgraded our ticket to 1st class.  2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

My encouragement isn’t to ignore sin you’re struggling with.  My encouragement is to be bold in your fight, to give God the glory that all your sin as been paid for.  As a redeemed new creation of God, live each day bold in your weakness, that while you cannot overcome your sin, Jesus did, and in Him you have the righteousness of God.  This is the only stance whereby we can fight sin, and find joy in God.  If you’re carrying a load of baggage with you, my exhortation is to daily, lay it down, press into the cross, let the blood of Christ do your fighting for you, and remember that you are free.

Grace and Peace,
Adam