Leave Your Baggage - Go Take a Hike!

The first of three posts on "Go now and leave your life of sin".

Key Scripture Passage
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." John 8:11 NIV

Reflection
Jesus gave the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8 an extra ordinary assurance: 'neither do I condemn you'.  This assurance gives us a way forward to leave the past baggage, all of it, at the cross, accept this forgiveness, and march onwards.

We are called to 'leave our life of sin'.  Before such a transformational change can happen, we have to grasp the enormity of His love and His grace.  Philip Yancey puts this idea beautifully: “Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are.”  So the weight of the past baggage is irrelevant, all that matters is to internalize the fact that 'He still loves me'.

It is time to act, to identify the things that need to go first.  I carefully carve them out, one by one, and stuff them in a leave-behind bag.  Now I am ready to travel light, leaving all this baggage behind.  It is not going to be easy in the beginning, since the temptations will still be around.  Identifying my stumbling blocks along the trail will help me to stay clear of them. 

Knowing God's Word will be my essential navigation tool, prayer will be my hydration pack, and counting my many blessings will be my milestones.  I will use fellowship and friendship from other Christ followers as my nourishing support system, which like a good hiking boot, will take me a long way forward.  After the first few miles, I will start conversations, report what I see, share burdens, and cheer on and thus invest in other hikers along the trail.

Questions to Consider
Are you carrying too heavy a load?  Are you allowing your past sins to haunt you and remain with you?

Action Step for the Week
If you are carrying too heavy a load, identify two of the heaviest stones that you need to discard.  Then go into your room, get on your knees, confess your sins to God, and drop these stones to the floor.  Feeling the warmth of His grace, you are now ready to get up and start your hike.