“Extra baggage” weighs us down and hinders spiritual growth. Spiritual pride is the worst kind of “extra baggage.” How can we recognize it and throw it off?
Scripture:
Isaiah, chapters 22-24; Hebrews, chapter 12
Hebrews 12:1-2 (CEB):
So then let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne.
Observations: Throwing Off Extra Baggage
I love the way that the CEB translates Hebrews 12:2 – Let’s throw off any extra baggage. I like to go backpacking. When you’re packing for a multi-day hike, you become very selective about what you include in your pack. Extra clothes? Nope. How much food do I really need? Should I take my sleeping bag, or can I get by with the liner? Every extra pound of weight becomes huge over the course of 40-50 miles.
The same is true of sin. The first decisions on what extra baggage needs to go are easy. Destructive habits? Gone. Friends and places that tend to pull us back to our old life? They have to go too. But then the decisions become harder. When it’s time to prune the attitudes that have developed over the course of our lives, we tend to hold on a little longer. We justify them by claiming, “That’s how God made me; that’s just how I am.”
The writer of Hebrews challenges us to move beyond such self-justification later in chapter 12. “Pursue the goal of peace along with everyone – and holiness as well, because no one will see the Lord without it. Make sure that no one misses out on God’s grace. Make sure that no root of bitterness grows up that might cause trouble and pollute many people” (Hebrews 12:14-15). Bitterness and unforgiveness are extra baggage that nobody needs!
Application: Extra Baggage
When I came to faith, the first batch of extra baggage was easy: alcohol and drugs. I knew they were destructive, so I knew they had to go. But after that, God started working on other habits and attitudes. The longer I go, the harder they become to throw off. That’s not because I want to hold onto them; it’s simply because they’re so ingrained that I have to acknowledge that they’re a problem before I can throw them off.
Shopping Carts
One of the things that God has been working on with me over the past couple of years is an attitude that other people should always agree with me. That attitude tends to show up in the silliest things. The folks at the church I serve know what I mean when I talk about “shopping carts.” It really frustrates me when people don’t put the carts away correctly in the parking lot! There are two “lanes” – one for large carts and one for small carts. When I see a cart in the “wrong” lane, it really upsets me.
Why? Well, at first I told myself that it was a matter of common courtesy. Why would you push the cart to the collection point and then not put it in the right lane? After all, the workers have to sort those out when they come to get them. Wouldn’t it be nice to help them out a little? But then God reminds me that no one owes me an explanation, nor are they bound to do what I think is appropriate. He “gently” reminds me: “Who do you think you are, that people should care what you think?”
That’s the heart of the problem, at least for me: I still have a long way to go in developing the “mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). He was, and is, the divine Son of God; yet he emptied himself of his power and became a servant. “He did not consider being equal with God something to exploit” (Philippians 2:6). So if Jesus humbled himself, how can I not humble myself?
The Extra Baggage of Spiritual Pride
The hardest baggage for us to throw off is the idea that we’re “right.” Unfortunately, that’s often even harder for believers than for others. Recently, I’ve seen two examples of the dangers of that kind of extra baggage. I try not to read a lot of political posts on social media – from either “side” – because I find them to be discouraging. The number of posts that say “if you’re a Christian you have to vote this way” are particularly troubling, because I believe that just the sort of thing Jesus warned us against when he told us not to judge others. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, spiritual pride is the worst kind of pride.
The second example just popped up today. I saw a post, reposted from someone else, that said, “If you’re sorry the bullet missed, just unfriend me.” I agree with that, but probably for a very different reason than the original poster. (I don’t know that person, so I can’t say for sure what their motivation was.) My reason is that I think we should unfriend people who are sorry “the bullet missed,” NO MATTER WHO THE BULLET WAS AIMED AT.
The spiritual baggage of thinking that “my side” is the “right” side is far too heavy to carry. The longer I walk this path, the more I want to focus on “pursuing the goal of peace along with everyone – and holiness as well, because no one will see the Lord without it.” God doesn’t call me to define “holiness,” and he certainly hasn’t asked me to determine who is and isn’t holy. He calls me to pursue it – and to throw off any extra baggage that weighs me down.
Prayer:
Father, it is hard to acknowledge that some our of dearly held attitudes and habits are really just extra baggage. Thank you for calling us to examine ourselves, and to throw off that extra baggage. As Jesus says in John 15, you prune us so that we produce more spiritual fruit. “[T]he fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified self with its passions and its desires” (Galatians 5:22-24).
Show us today if there is extra baggage that we need to throw off. Help us to pursue peace with everyone, and holiness. You are holy, and you call your people to be holy. Give us wisdom to throw off anything that hinders us in that pursuit. Amen.
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