When Terry and I travel, he laughs at the way I pack. I will pack two to three outfits for one day. I mean, come on … weather is often unpredictable! It could still rain, even though the weather app for that city says it will not rain. And just how cool is that 58 degree temperature going to feel? Will I want to wear that sleeveless dress to dinner, or will I want to wear a long sleeve dress? And don’t get me started on shoes. If I don’t wear the sleeveless dress, then the strappy heels I have packed won’t match the long sleeve dress, so I need to toss in another pair of heels, just in case.
Terry’s idea of packing? Just grab a nice button down shirt for me, and pants. I’ll ask, “But what if it’s warm? Do you want the same shoes with those pants as you would with dress shorts?”
I tend to overpack. It’s a problem I should work through, I’m sure, to eliminate our heavy luggage. I think if I worked through this problem, we would have much lighter loads to carry into hotels.
This tends to happen to many of us with our emotional baggage, too.
I don’t know if you have ever been dealt a blow that was so emotional, it felt like you were knocked to the ground and punched, repeatedly in the guts … but I have been. I am guessing you have, as well. When I learned some awful news about something someone evil had done, all I could think about was, “Why is he upright? Why is he living when good people are dying? How is this man laughing and existing and breathing when all I want to do is squeeze the life out of him?”
Love our enemies? Yes, I know I am supposed to love my enemies. But I have to tell you … with some of the evil in this world, I have a very hard time mustering up any tolerance, much less love for these evil beings.
“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.” - 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7 (NIV)
As I prayed about some evil people, though, I began feeling His peace wash over me. He is just. He will deal with evil.
There is a beautiful song by Elevation Worship called, “Give Me Faith.” I have really been clinging to it when I get angry about the evil injustices all around us. These lyrics, “I need You to soften my heart and break me apart. I need You to open my eyes to see that You’re shaping my life. All I am, I surrender … Give me faith, to trust what You say. That You’re good and Your love is great. I’m broken inside, I give You my life…”
I am sure you have in your past, (or currently, perhaps) had to deal with evil people. I want you to know I am absolutely confident God is just. As believers, we often feel we have to “take it.” We have to “turn the other cheek” and allow the oppressor/the evil one to just get away with it, because it “must be God’s will.” Remember what I wrote last week our Pastor Steve Lawes told us: “God is good and God is sovereign. The sovereignty of God is complicated. The goodness of God is simple. If something isn’t good, it’s not God and it’s not from God, so it isn’t God’s will!”
There are so many people carrying around suitcases filled with emotional baggage. Hurt and scars from other people. Wounds inflicted by an evil person. Feeling like “damaged goods,” weighs a person down. Holding in secrets weighs a person down. Being consumed with the lack of justice on this side of Heaven weighs a person down.
The strength He gives us in Jesus is what allows us to not have to carry around that heavy, excess emotional baggage while we grieve and hurt. Jesus is the strength that allows us to remove the heavy pieces so we don’t have to carry them anymore. We won’t have to go from day to day with an overpacked heart. God will help us get rid of the heavy excess. We can unpack our useless, needless, heavy, emotional baggage and lay it at the foot of the Cross where it belongs.
Just know if it isn’t good, it’s not from God. But God is just. I might not know much, but I know God is just. Evil people will be dealt with, by God.