I have a real weakness for beautiful briefcases. Of course, they must be made of genuine leather, not canvas or fabric, otherwise what’s the point? I might as well use a cardboard box. Unfortunately, most of the briefcases I'm drawn to are not suitable for me. I prefer the thin, classic, understated ones like a really important person might carry; one just large enough to hold something about the size of, say, a brief. Someone like the president or Donald Trump would probably never carry a briefcase at all, or even a pencil, for that matter. Like the person who carries a large ring of keys on his belt, a man sporting a huge briefcase probably has a great deal of responsibility, but maybe not as much prestige. Though each may unlock many doors or mysteries in the course of a day's work, neither will likely command the respect he deserves.
So, for that reason as well as because of simple aesthetics, I would prefer a sleek, refined, and graceful portfolio made for style and not for work. But I have to carry so many things in my case that it often looks more like an ocean liner trunk. I have to carry books, manuals, notebooks, folders, and files. I also usually need to take my laptop computer and its power supply, cables, and external drives, and maybe even a package of crackers or a sandwich, and then, of course, I will need a toothbrush and toothpaste. Carrying all of this stuff requires me to use a supersized briefcase with wheels. So then what I have is more of a cart than a case. No one would ever suspect me of being important while I am dragging such a rig around. They could possibly guess that I worked for an important person, but they would more likely mistake me for a homeless person pushing all my belongings around in a grocery cart.
My wife likes handbags but for a different reason. She is not as fastidious and vain as I am about their appearance. She wants them primarily for utility, and she usually carries about three of them with her. Actually I don’t mean she walks around with three pocketbooks on her arm. But when we leave home, she will often have the regular bag she is using that day, along with another one of a different style, and perhaps a tote or shopping bag. If I ask her why she is carrying so many pieces of luggage just to go the mall or to church, she explains that she is using a different purse today, and since some of her important things are in the bag she previously used, she must take both with her now so she can consolidate their contents. And if I ask about the tote or shopping bag she might say something like, “Oh, I have some things in there I must return because they didn’t work out,” or she will tell me they contain a gift she has for someone, or she might inform me that she included her camera, a more comfortable pair of shoes, or mountain climbing gear.
I’ve noticed over the years that both of us carry much more stuff than we used to. I don’t know if it's because of insecurity or being too tired to decide what we will really need, or if it’s because of over-learning the Boy Scout motto to "be prepared.” Our lives have become more complex now than they used to be, and we are involved in more projects and tasks, all of which require their share of mandatory materials and supplies. But it was a lot more fun when we used to just get in the car taking almost nothing with us.
Apart from God and His grace we all have a heavy load of luggage to carry around. The luggage I speak of now is in the form of sin and its consequent guilt. No matter how intent a person is on being good, the Bible says that apart from God, our “righteousness is as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6) And no matter how hard we try to figure everything out and no matter how much we attempt to work our way toward God and achieve an understanding of ultimate reality, the Bible says there will be no genuine righteousness, no real understanding, and no productive seeking after God until we come to Him by faith. (Romans 3:10-11)
But being reconciled to God does not mean that we automatically leave all our old luggage behind. But becoming a Christian ensures that we now have a rational basis for dealing with sinful behavior. In fact, leaving the luggage behind is exactly how the Bible teaches us to deal with the old, ungodly patterns of conduct prevalent in the world's society and perhaps in our former life. Peter says, “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry." (I Peter 4:3) The apostle doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about how to stop doing these things, he just says to stop doing them. Peter understood the damage this kind of behavior would do to a Christian’s life, and he also knew the power God gives believers to deal with sinful habits and lifestyles.
In Ephesians 4 Paul uses precisely the same approach. After explaining that we were created by God to do good (Ephesians 2:10), he says that all sinful behavior on the part of a Christian is a part of his past life or what he calls the old self and that we are to put it off or put it away. “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24) From this same chapter we have the following list of behavior that we are told to simply put off or take out of our briefcase:
Anger (v. 26)
Stealing (v. 28)
Unwholesome speech (v. 29)
Bitterness (v. 31)
Rage (v. 31)
Brawling (v. 31)
Slander (v. 31)
Malice (v. 31)
To this list, Galatians 5:19 adds::
Hatred
Jealousy
Envy
Fits of rage
There are many other such catalogues of inappropriate behavior in the New Testament. In every case the prescription is always the same: Leave the old sinful behavior behind and begin developing a new life in Christ appropriate to the amazing change that has taken place in you. It was to this end that the apostle Paul in II Corinthians 5:17 said:
Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
It's encouraging to realize that though being a Christian doesn’t mean we can no longer lie, steal, or use unwholesome speech, it does mean we no longer have to. We are now exhorted to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and [to] run with endurance the race set before us" (Hebrews 12:1). We can only run the race God has marked out for us if we are willing to quit dragging around that oversize brifcase still stuffed, or weighted down, with sinful attitudes and patterns of behavior. These must be jettisoned to make room for the exciting new possiblities God wants to bring into our lives.
