Our Bags are Packed!

Vacations & Baggage

How far from home have you ventured during your journeys? A few summers ago, we had the opportunity to travel to the Mediterranean area visiting Rome and Greece. Where has your journey taken you?

Life’s journey has taken us unexpected places also, hasn’t it? Career changes, family challenges, and personal relocations place us in circumstances that were not planned for. Our journey with God can take similar unexpected turns.

One of the challenges of getting ready for a journey is packing the suitcases and bags for the trip. We make sure we have the clothes we will need, as well as the toiletries. As there is room, we add the luxuries we think we might enjoy – a favorite book, a hairdryer, or some extra shoes. Coming home is always more difficult because we have picked up gifts and souvenirs along the way.

When we traveled I always had two bags – one for the bigger items and a smaller bag for the more personal ones. My grandmother always added an additional bag for my journey. But her bag was a gift. Each grandchild received a gift to take along on the journey. My gift was always a bag of grape Jolly Rancher candies.

The Baggage of Adam’s Sin

As we prepare for our journey of life, our bags are already packed for us. The heavy, cumbersome luggage is carried with us every moment, every step of our journey. The one bag was packed years and years ago by the first humans, Adam and Eve. You see, the human journey begins in a Garden. This weighty bag is filled because of sin. Listen to what Paul wrote to the Romans.

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Romans 5:12 NLT

Eugene Peterson translated Romans 5:12 like this:

You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in – first sin, then death, and no one is exempt from either sin or death.

Romans 5:12 MSG

Adam’s sin added a great deal of baggage to human life. In addition to the punishment of death, Adam’s sin brought pain, suffering and decay to life. God also told Adam that because of his sin his life’s activities would now require sweat and toil to accomplish. The work would no longer be easy. Adam would become discouraged and weary.

The Weight of My Own Sin

But Adam’s sin is not the only baggage that I carry. When I reach an age when I have an understanding of what is right and wrong, I carry the weight of my own sin. With personal sin, I feel personal guilt. Adam’s sin may have brought pain and death into the world, but I don’t feel personal responsibility for what Adam did. I simply must now deal with its consequences.

But when I sin – and I do often – I bear the guilt of that sin. To break God’s commands is to rebel against Him. My sin is a personal insult to His wisdom and authority. I have broken God’s Law and I stand condemned in His presence.

But my sin doesn’t just make me guilty, it makes me sick. Like a cancer, sin eats away at my spirit, my soul, and my heart. Sin leaves me corrupt, weakened, and ridden with disease. J. Oliver Buswell writes, “Sin is not only what we do, but also what we are.” Sins are sinful; sinners are sinful.

Jesus speaks of evil men, not just evil deeds (Matthew 5:39, 45; Matthew 12:34-35). Jeremiah writes, “The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV). The longer we live, the more we sin. The cumulative nature of sin eats at who we are and weakens our nature. The more we sin the harder it becomes not to sin.

These two heavy and cruel bags leave me in a place condemned before God and damaged before other humans. “Hurt people hurt people” is more than a clever phrase. It is the way of our journey. The damage caused by hurt and weakness causes us to lash out and inflict pain and hurt upon others. Sin becomes a vicious cycle.

Baggage for the Journey

But just like the luggage packed for my vacations, the baggage I carry through life comes with a gift. This gift is not from my grandmother; rather it is a gift from God. He gave the gift to Adam and Eve in the form of a promise. To the serpent, God said,

“I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. One of her descendants will crush your head and you will bite his heel.”

Genesis 3:15 New Century Version (NCV)

What happens when someone breaks something of yours that you value? You expect some sort of payment to be made to account for your loss. Our sin demands a payment that we cannot pay. God steps into our problem bringing a gift.

Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:26-28 NIV

The Journey Begins

So Mary and Joseph begin their journey toward Bethlehem, pursuing a promise. Our study of the next seven weeks will try to put something of a magnifying glass upon their steps and their stops. As we do so, we will have opportunities to examine our own journey and our own need for the baby born in that quiet manger.

Let’s Apply a Truth

• When we take a journey, we make preparations before hand.
• Vacations or journeys are usually costly and require a sacrifice of some nature.
• We most often believe that the journey is worth more than the sacrifice.

Points to Ponder

1) In many ways, this is a spiritual journey. What preparations should you make?

2) In order to take this journey, what are you willing to sacrifice?

3) What do you expect to gain from the journey?