I'm not an old bag
Have you ever picked up a beautiful bag only to find used tissues, old pen marks and spilled foundation on the inside? Writer Betty Thompson challenges us to think of what we are filling our lives with, how we are made and what we were made for.
Do you like bags?
I know women who just love bags!
You might have only one bag. Or maybe you have bags to go with different outfits or different events - evening, travelling, gym or beach trips! Maybe you have one special bag saved up for the perfect occasion... one day soon!
Bags. Well worn, well loved, standing the test of time - certain bags never to be discarded for their sentimental value, even though they are long past their used-by-date! And as a little girl, how many of you didn't love a pretty, grown-up looking handbag?
Let's face it, we can't go far without a bag, can we?
What are you filled with?
Years ago, our women's ministry committee put on an evening event, and we had a random activity at one stage for the women to count the number of items in their bag. The winner's total count...? Get ready for it!
She had 147 items in her bag!
Do you drag around an overstuffed bag, straining at the seams and zip with many unneeded items? This question reminds me of the junk we pile into our lives. How much we try to cram into our day, to fill up all the spaces - every nook and cranny - often with things that are not important. Oh, but how necessary it feels at the time!
What is our life truly filled with?
Is our bag of life full of despair, anxiety, jealousy, gossip, unforgiveness and criticism lurking under the zips? Is there back stabbing and un-Christlikeness hidden in the pockets? Oh dear...!
Or is our bag of life a joy to others - offering kindness, peace, support, prayer, compassion and friendship. Is our bag overflowing with love for those who seek it from us?
What are you made for?
One vintage bag: Still admired, made well! All the essentials are in place, and it is still useful... if a little worn. This creation is beautiful in its own way and has a wealth of experiences and great memories.
One neat-as-a-pin evening bag: This neat, tidy creation has everything in order! Every item has a place, and all is well maintained. This has been well looked after and enjoys regular maintenance, precision and everything put right where it needs to go!
One carefree beach bag: This creation has a huge capacity to be filled with anything you can imagine - sunscreen, towels, the children's lunches, dinner and medication just in case there is a rogue bee-sting! Go-with-the-flow and ready for anything! Just ignore some of the coffee and tomato sauce spills, please.
All bags are made with a purpose in mind. The fabric that goes into them, the way they are sewn - even where their zips and buttons are placed speaks to their purpose.
Just like this, but even more precious - our Creator made us with a purpose in mind. The passions we have, the ways we show love - the joys and fears and expressions of happiness we have in our everyday all point to the purposes that God has created us to thrive in!
Do you know that you are made for a purpose? How do you live that out? Do others see things in us that we don't see in ourselves?
What are you holding?
Have you ever picked up a shiny, lovely bag but inside there are rips, stains and tears? Spilled ink and wet chewing gum cemented with old tissues and lost medication? Yuck!
Our own lives can be similar. We might appear bright and cheerful and fun - but inside, we might hide dark, dirty corners where things fester and the light disappears.
But there is good news - we don't just throw out things when they get dirty. We don't just chuck bags away because something spills. We clean them out.
'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!' - 2 Corinthians 5:17
The Bible tells us that if we obey Jesus Christ Saviour with our hearts and lives and love his as our Lord - all those dark, ugly over-cramped spaces can be completely cleared out! Not only cleared out - but made completely NEW! We are not the same anymore, a new life has begun!
WOW! I don't know about you, but I find those to be precious words from God.
What's you made of?
Our characters can be likened to the different fabrics that make up different bags.
Some of us are strong, able to take whatever life throws at us. We go with the rough and tumble and are resilient, not easily offended. We are like robust leather. Others of us might be more fragile and a little more delicate. We may be needing support and encouragement often, and not deal well in loud situations or with people who are boisterous or careless with our feelings. We may be like a fine silk.
We are each so vastly different and one is not better than the other - praise God! As Christians, we are all part of the body of Christ - not just a single arm, or leg (or single bag!) - but a body. We each play a vital and important part to uplift, compliment each other and support the wider church.
So let's look in our life today. Is it time to re-evaluate, redesign, renew or recommit the contents of your bag - your life - to Jesus?
Re-evaluate : What is it that makes your Christian faith vital and alive at the moment? Do you feel you have the capacity to love God with your everything as well as love your neighbor as yourself? What is draining your time and energy at the moment? Re-evaluate the ways you are connecting with God if they are no longer proving fruitful.
'Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’' - Matthew 22:37-39
Redesign: If you came up with practices or habits in your life that are draining you as you re-evaluate - take time to redesign the future. What would it look like to enjoy your prayer time as you connect with God? Is it worshipping more? Is it being more thankful as you meditate upon God's goodness? We are not trying to make this all about us, but rather find out what God's design is for our vital times with him.
'And He said unto them, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure, even so much as to eat.' - Mark 6:31
Renew: Only Jesus Christ can renew us - his blood made the way for us to be made right with God, for the Holy Spirit to have a clean space to live within us and direct us in our lives. Are you feeling connected and invigorated? Do you need to have your mind and direction renewed? If you mean it, then spend a few moments each morning praying this Psalm:
'Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.' - Psalm 51:10-12
Recommit: Maybe we could be brave and discard the 'old bag'. The things that we hold on to dearly, the old traditions or pastimes or habits that we know don't further our walk with God, but they are comfortable and familiar. Is it time to be brave and start again with a 'new bag'?
I say brave because it isn't always easy to put change into action. It isn't easy to have a clean out and start again. It isn't easy to put aside things we have been accustomed to - but these are very often the very things that hold us back from being the people Jesus wants us to be!
'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.' - Ezekiel 36:26
A fresh start
'Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.' - Matthew 9:17
A wineskin is a kind of bag, and God tells us that our new wine - our new lives and selves - are placed into new vessels so that we may best honour him! Let's allow God to clean out our bags today.
Join me in the next article where we 'chat about hats'... and get nostalgic about The Salvation Army bonnet from 1906 archives!
Blessings,
Betty.
By Betty Thompson
Edited by Rosy Keane
WM Author