More Than Your Baggage

READ: MATTHEW 11:28-30; 2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10; 1 PETER 2:9-10

Do you ever feel like you’re carrying a backpack that’s way too heavy? Maybe your baggage goes by the name “school pressure,” “anxiety,” “family stress,” or “general insecurity.” With time, carrying all that extra weight could get you tagged “the anxious one,” or even “the heavily laden one.”

I know what it’s like to carry that label. For years, my daily routine has included taking medication for a certain health condition. It’s easy to accept that as my story—my lifelong baggage.

But one truth in the Bible changed everything for me: I am chosen by God and called by Him. My medical diagnosis is only a detail, not the definition of my life. And God’s grace is sufficient for me. The same applies to you. You are not defined by your past mistakes, current anxiety, difficult circumstances, or any other label. You are chosen, God’s special possession. Your core identity is in Jesus, who loves you and has called you by name. Jesus secured that identity for you with His death and resurrection.

Everything else is just baggage that we get to hand over to Him. When we do, it becomes easier to cope with our baggage without letting it define who we are. We learn the difference between saying, “I am the anxious one,” and saying, “I am chosen by God, and as I walk through anxiety, He is with me and His grace is sufficient for me every day.” • Fraciah Mwangi

• If you’ve put your trust in Jesus, the truest thing about you is that you are a beloved, treasured child of the Most High God, chosen to bear His presence, and nothing can ever shake that. You are the one Jesus loves. How could these truths make our baggage feel a little less overwhelming?

• Reread Matthew 11:28-30. What baggage has been weighing you down lately? Consider taking some time to talk to Jesus about whatever comes to mind.

• What labels have others given you? What labels have you given yourself? While some of these may be partially true, or even entirely true, they are never your core identity. What questions do you have about this? Who is a trusted Christian in your life you could talk to about it?

But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 (NLT)