You’ve got baggage. Some of it comes from your past—the parts of life that are filled with guilt and regrets. Some of it comes from your present—your current hang-ups and relational snags. And some of it is borrowed from your future—those dreams and desires you can’t imagine missing out on. There are times when the weight of that baggage gets tiresome and you long for something new. The good news of the gospel is that you can have it.
You’ll have to lay down the baggage, though. You have to let it go in order to start over. But the promise of the gospel is that you can. You won’t let go of your true identity, but you can let go of your old self and start from scratch. You have full permission to release the heaviness of guilt, regrets, frustrations, unfulfilled hopes, and more. In their place, you can pick up the new self and live in that identity.
The new self is not just an improvement on the old. It’s a substitute. It’s actually Jesus within you, which is far better than the baggage you’ve been carrying around. Every day, let go of whatever fits into the old self and pick up whatever fits into the new. In laying down the weightiness of life, you can live in the lightness of resurrection—where every day is new.
