A Pastoral Word. . . Unclaimed Baggage
Rev. Kevin Freeman
June 29, 2023
Have you ever lost an airline bag? It is one of the more frustrating aspects of the air travel experience. Oddly enough, airlines experience the opposite frustration: unclaimed baggage. About 2.9 million passengers fly in and out of US airports daily, according to the FAA. With so many travelers, sometimes luggage is abandoned, with the airline left holding the bag.
Enter the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro, Alabama. When luggage is deemed truly orphaned from its owner, this store receives and sorts the contents to repurpose, recycle, or resell them. Many of these include clothing, household goods, electronics, and, unsurprisingly, suitcases. Some interesting finds have also been discovered along the way, including an Egyptian burial mask, a Renaissance-era lute, a camera from the space shuttle, and even a live rattlesnake! The store has collected so many strange items that it recently opened its own museum.
Physical baggage is not the only kind that people carry. We are known for bearing the emotional burdens of broken promises, unprocessed hurts, and unrealized dreams. Unlike with unclaimed baggage, people tend not to forget away the weights that hold them down. Instead, our baggage prevents us from moving forward and living life to the fullest. Worse still, our response to emotional baggage leads us to lash out and hurt others, effectively giving them emotional baggage, too.
Knowing our struggle, God offered to carry our burdens. Consider these passages from His Word:
We are told in Philippians to not be anxious about anything. Instead, in everything, we can give our requests to God and receive His supernatural peace. In the past week, has your life been characterized more by emotional burdens or uplifting peace? Take some time to go to our Lord with your burdens and watch Him replace them with comfort that can only come from God.
And remember that our burden-carrying Lord is our Savior, whose death and resurrection has removed the heaviest burden of all: our sin. The Bible records, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV.
Let go of your baggage so that God can claim it.
Your partner in ministry,
Kevin Freeman
Enter the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro, Alabama. When luggage is deemed truly orphaned from its owner, this store receives and sorts the contents to repurpose, recycle, or resell them. Many of these include clothing, household goods, electronics, and, unsurprisingly, suitcases. Some interesting finds have also been discovered along the way, including an Egyptian burial mask, a Renaissance-era lute, a camera from the space shuttle, and even a live rattlesnake! The store has collected so many strange items that it recently opened its own museum.
Physical baggage is not the only kind that people carry. We are known for bearing the emotional burdens of broken promises, unprocessed hurts, and unrealized dreams. Unlike with unclaimed baggage, people tend not to forget away the weights that hold them down. Instead, our baggage prevents us from moving forward and living life to the fullest. Worse still, our response to emotional baggage leads us to lash out and hurt others, effectively giving them emotional baggage, too.
Knowing our struggle, God offered to carry our burdens. Consider these passages from His Word:
- Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. - Psalm 55:22 NIV
- Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7 NIV
- "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
- The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. - Psalm 34:18 NIV
We are told in Philippians to not be anxious about anything. Instead, in everything, we can give our requests to God and receive His supernatural peace. In the past week, has your life been characterized more by emotional burdens or uplifting peace? Take some time to go to our Lord with your burdens and watch Him replace them with comfort that can only come from God.
And remember that our burden-carrying Lord is our Savior, whose death and resurrection has removed the heaviest burden of all: our sin. The Bible records, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV.
Let go of your baggage so that God can claim it.
Your partner in ministry,
Kevin Freeman
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