BAGGAGE and CARRY ONS
Although I hate to pay the airline baggage fee, there is one good thing about it. It has forced me to reduce what I carry with me and decide what is most important.
I think most of us go through life carrying a lot more baggage than we need. What will it take for us to let go of some of the old bags that we insist on lugging around?
Our BAGGAGE:
- When what we own begins to own us, we become slaves to our possessions.If we shop to fulfill our wants rather than our needs, our wants continue to expand because 'wants' are never satisfied.
"Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle." Proverbs 23:4-5
- Many of us are weighed down with the wrong kind of friends. Why is it that we are often attracted to friends that are not good for us? Maybe the time has come to break some of those ties.
"They misled you and overcame you - those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you." Jeremiah 38:22b
- Grudges and hurt feelings make our luggage unbearably heavy. Someone said, "Holding a grudge is like letting someone live in your head rent free."
"But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." Colossians 3:8
- Pride and self-righteousness seem to fill all the corners and spaces of our bags. We don't realize that they are there until we try to pick up our bulging suitcase and find how much more it weighs than we thought.
"In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God." Psalms 10:4
Our CARRY ONS:
The airlines are very specific about what we can and cannot carry on the plane with us. The Bible has 'carry on' restrictions for us too.
What can we carry with us into Heaven? Not our possessions, our property, our education, our fame, our fortune, our position, our beauty, our politics, our contacts.
A man appeared at the pearly gates lugging a heavy suitcase filled with gold. St. Peter opened it and asked the man, "Why are you bringing paving stones into Heaven?"
What can we pack in our Carry On? Our faith in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love we have for God, the souls we have introduced to Jesus, the investments we have made in the Kingdom of God and the kindnesses we have shown to others. We can take only what we've done for Him.
Nothing in my hands I bring.
Simply to thy cross I cling.
Packing for Heaven,
Pastor Bob and Marion Rieth 
