Traveling Really Light

Traveling Really Light

Matthew 10:9-14
Don't take any money in your money belts -- no gold, silver, or even copper
coins. Don't carry a traveler's bag with a change of clothes and sandals or
even a walking stick. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who
work deserve to be fed. Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a
worthy person and stay in his home until you leave town. When you enter the
home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your
blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing. If any household or town
refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet
as you leave.

Jesus instructed His disciples to travel light. No money, no
extra clothes. He wanted them to be flexible, nimble, responsive, focused. He
wanted them to be ready at a moment’s notice to share the Good News along with either
a blessing or a goodbye. And if they moved on without leaving a blessing, He
wanted them to “shake the dust from their sandals”. I’ve often thought this was
directed more as a statement or message to the house they were leaving and the
inhabitants of that house. But it struck me recently that perhaps it was really
more of a strong message to the disciples – “forget about it!” Move on down the
road and don’t look back. Don’t have any regrets. Don’t second guess yourself.
Don’t try to circle back and try to deliver the message again. Above all, don’t
blame yourself.

Jesus wants us to travel really light. Don’t carry even an extra speck of dust with
you. Because that speck of dust can bring up bad memories or worries or doubts.
If the Good News isn’t well received, there are other people ready to hear it
and believe it. Focus on them. Be 100% ready to deliver the good news to them
without any hindrances from the past. Don’t check any extra baggage, don’t pay
any extra fees, don’t wait to reclaim that old baggage. Travel light – leave
blessings in your wake. But don’t take anything
extra with you.

Bags Fly Free? Really?

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Southwest Airlines has an advertising campaign hyping that “Bags Fly Free” on their airline, while many other airlines are raising fees (and attempting to raise revenues) by charging additional fees to bring extra baggage along with you on trips. Unfortunately airline trips aren’t the only area in our lives that we pack along extra baggage.

We all have extra baggage that we drag along as we go through life! We typically pack along our past hurts, our biases, our pet peeves, and our disappointments. We don’t always carry that baggage right with us, but we certainly want to “check it” so it is always close at hand when we need to pull it out and use it to our advantage (or perhaps more often to our disadvantage).

At the end of an airplane flight, we can’t move along quickly to our final destination until we stop by the baggage area to reclaim our extra bags. And in real life, we can’t move along freely or make quick decisions because we have our own baggage to deal with. We can’t love freely because of past bad experiences. We don’t trust people because we got burned in the past. We can’t “be all that we should be” because we have past experiences that bog us down and slow us down. And in real life, bags don’t really fly free. The extra baggage is costly to bring along and hinders our freedom.

This series of short devotions is intended to point out the importance of “Traveling Light – Baggage Free Living” and to offer some tips for achieving the freedom associated with this concept. I hope you enjoy and benefit from some of the simple explanations and stories I will share over the coming weeks. Ultimately it is all about achieving true joy and freedom, which I believe can only be experienced through a close relationship with Jesus Christ. Traveling with Jesus is different than the way we typically travel. Jesus promises that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. No extra baggage, no extra fees, no waiting to reclaim baggage that we really didn’t need anyway.