Releasing the Baggage

By Alexandra Copeland

Through the Apostle Paul, God gives us a command in Hebrews 12:1 that is extremely beneficial for our spiritual well-being in Christ. He tells us to take notice in His Word of the huge crowd of witnesses that have accomplished so much in their walk with God through faith. Since we have these tremendous witnesses, God commands us to strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the darkness of sin, because it will trip us up every time. God then tells us to run with endurance the race that He has set before us. It is extremely critical we’re clear that this race of life wasn’t set by us. It’s a race we have the privilege and duty to run through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Not only did God tell us what to do in this race, but He’s told us how to win it. He said in Hebrews 12:2 that we’re to run it by keeping our eyes on Jesus Christ, the Champion that is the author and finisher of our faith.  

As we ingest the meat of Hebrews 12:1-2 in small chewable bites, the first thing we’re to digest is the encouragement that Heavenly Father provides. He prods us along by giving examples of how He worked through and with others despite their shortcomings and weaknesses. These witnesses like Abraham, Sarah, and Moses, were not perfect people. They were not without sin, but through God’s grace, they were able to achieve His purpose. 

We are also to make note that sin does indeed weigh us down. It prevents us from building the momentum on this race that we desperately need. We’re not perfect, but to the extent that the baggage we’re carrying will keep us from moving forward in our destinies, we must release it. 

God’s command is that we run with endurance. Life in Christ is an ever-changing, sometimes volatile, and always abounding dynamic. It is one in which the Father continually has an eye on the future for us. He knows the end of a thing before He begins. 1John 3:2(NLT) tells us, “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.” You and I have some place to be; we have a destiny! We don’t know all the details that are involved with transforming into our highest Christ-self, but we know that Heavenly Father knows. It’s not the person with baggage that He sees when He looks at us. He sees Christ in us 24/7, because this is the end—the hope of glory that God is seeing in us right now.  

Colossians 3:3 tells us that our lives are hidden in Christ. If something is hidden in a beautiful container, anyone that is looking for what is hidden will only see the beauty of the container. The thing that is hidden may not be quite as lovely, but the expectation of the beholder is that it is. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. He’s the cover and we’re the book he’s working on. Once he has finished, we will be just like him.  

God sees our futures. He knows there’s some things in our lives right now that are weights, and they are preventing us from the work we were created to do. Heavenly Father is not a God that punishes. His love is perfect, and 1John 4:18 tells us that it drives out the fear that punishment causes. God loves people—all people. There are those that don’t have food, clothing, or a place to call home. Many of us have been called by Jesus to do this work, for he commanded us to feed his sheep, but we’re so engrossed in our own issues that we’re not paying attention to our call. We must change this. 

Life is designed by Heavenly Father to be a continuous flow of giving and receiving, but make no mistake, it’s a race to the finish. The devil has concocted many distractions in our world, because he doesn’t want us to finish the course, but we must not be deterred. As believers, we owe it to God and to ourselves to release any emotion, feeling, behavior, or attitude that is beneath our privilege. It’s not always easy, and we may not be skipping through a field of daisies about getting it done, but we’re not to focus all our attention on our feelings. God commanded us to look to Jesus Christ. He’s the author and finisher, and if we’ll be committed to release our baggage, the span of our lives will be the prize God intends them to be.■ 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.