Life's Baggage

Have you ever caught yourself justifying your low spiritual state – sort of letting yourself off the hook type of thing? “I’m not doing very well spiritually but I have my reasons. You don’t understand me because you don’t have the same background I have. Things happened to me in the past that have caused me to be the way I am today.”

King Josiah could have said: “I hope nobody has high expectations for me. In my background, my grandfather was about as wicked as kings could be. He worshiped false gods. He offered his own sons as human sacrifices. He practiced witchcraft and did other dark things. Don’t you think that would have an impact on me? And my dad wasn’t much better! At least grandpa repented late in life, but my father was so evil, his own officials assassinated him. So I’ve got it in my genes. I hope I do better spiritually than them, but I probably won’t because I’ve got a lot of baggage.”

Fortunately Josiah didn’t think like that. It’s so refreshing to come across his life in Old Testament history. It seems like he came to the throne with all the optimism of youth.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD,

and walked in all the way of David his father (1)

and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

(2Kings 22:2)

(1) a great, great, great, great etc. grandfather….some 400 years earlier!!

Sizing a crown to fit the head of the new eight year old king was someone’s task. In his teens Josiah’s love and devotion to the Lord was obvious. He realized he had his own life to live. He was responsible for the choices he made and he couldn’t blame what he did on what they did in the past. It was his turn to chart his course for God. The past was past with Josiah. Now he was responsible to walk closely with the Lord and to lead the nation in a spiritual path to God.

Josiah initiated a robust spiritual restoration agenda. The House of the Lord was his priority. While repairing the Temple his workers uncovered a book. They quickly brought it to King Josiah. It was an old dusty Book of the Law that had long been lost and disregarded. The tears streamed down young Josiah’s face as they read the Word of God to him. He was heart broken over how far they had all strayed from God. He summoned the entire population to a meeting. Standing beside a temple pillar he read the Word of God to the people. He publicly pledged to follow the Lord faithfully and to carry out the words written in the Book. What a leader for the Lord Josiah was!

He felt no obligation to carry the baggage of his past along with him. Deliberately he left the baggage behind. It was a conscious decision before the Lord to honor and serve HIM – regardless of what had happened in the past.

I have no ‘valid’ excuse for not walking closely with the Lord. I have no ‘legitimate’ excuse for not obeying His Word. I have no one to blame but myself for my spiritual condition. No one, no thing, no circumstance or situation can rob me of the joy of my salvation, unless I give it or them permission to do so. The choice is mine to either thrive or wither as a believer. As heavy and painful and as real as the baggage may be, it’s your choice whether you continue to carry it or drop it and walk freely and joyfully with the Lord.

“…One thing I do,

forgetting those things which are behind (successes or failures)

and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:13-14

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Be sure to enjoy the Lord today. May you have a Christ-centered Christmas. Drive carefully, eat lightly, and don’t let the busyness of the holidays disrupt your daily devotions with the Lord.

Warmly in Christ,

Peter Ramsay

www.heaven4sure.com

PS. If you have any family members or friends you would like to add to a monthly Gospel e-tract distribution list, forward their names and email addresses to me at pdr@pei.sympatico.ca. We tell them their address has been provided by a friend but they can simply be removed from the list if they do not wish to receive future gospel e-tracts.