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Daily Devotional: Thursday, Oct 1
 Speaker: Ben Sigman Theme: Religious Baggage Weekend Music links on iTunes: My Savior Lives by New Life Church; Majestic by Lincoln Brewster; How Can I Keep From Singing by Chris Tomlin; Today is the Day by Lincoln Brewster. Read: Hebrews 12:1-3 Think: Back in the 1980s, there was an odd news story that ran for several months. It was about a huge barge loaded with tons and tons of trash from a city in New York State. This barge was towed up and down the East Coast and as far as Central America before a solution for disposing of the garbage was finally found. I thought about this story when Pastor Ben reminded us that we need to drop our spiritual baggage. So often, it seems easier to identify our spiritual baggage than to leave it behind us. Perhaps you resent the way the nuns never answered your difficult questions, or how a youth pastor told you that dancing was evil. Growing up, I had a hard time with the enormous pride I saw people take in performing acts of Christian service. These are all examples of spiritual baggage, and it's certainly helpful to understand what particular spiritual baggage we've each picked up. But just identifying our baggage isn't enough. You see, hauling around this garbage slows us down and prevents us from doing useful work. Clinging to our resentment of the bad spiritual stuff we've experienced can become sin in our own lives. We need to get rid of it. Hebrews 12:1 seems to speak of ‘everything that hinders' and ‘sins that so easily entangle' as two separate challenges. Whichever category your spiritual baggage falls into, you need to get rid of it. And, unlike the garbage barge, you can dump the trash you've been hauling around at any time and any place. Do: Perhaps during the sermon this week, or in reading this eDevo today, some sort of spiritual baggage you carry has been brought to mind. On a slip of paper, write it down. Then toss it in the nearest recycling bin, letting go of it for good. Pray: Heavenly Father, I know I have picked up some baggage that I don't need to be carrying around. Sometimes, I'm pretty comfortable with it, even though I know I shouldn't be. Here and now, I want let go of it. Take it from me, and don't let me pick it up again.
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church. |
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Timberlake Church | 4505 236th Ave. NE • Redmond, Washington 98053 • 425-869-4400 • info@tlcf.org | ||||||
