Galatians 5:1
Have you felt the weight of regret? When we make a mistake, experience failure, or hurt another person, we can carry it for a long time.
Peak performance expert Brian Cain offers three useful images to his clients, many of whom are athletes whose failures are public. The images are:
A toilet
A brick
A black box
After a failure, it helps to flush what happened. But often, we still carry around the mistake, like a brick. Imagine the weight of accumulating bricks that you haven't dealt with. The black box helps "flush your brick." An airplane's black box allows analysis of what occurred and planning for how to avoid a repeat failure.
In my book and video study, "Live Like You're Loved," I outline steps to live like you're loved. The one that resonates the most is the Improve step, "Discard Your Baggage." Worry, guilt, anger, insecurity, residue from abuse, bad habits, addictions, and more can weigh us down like bricks. We must dispose of these enslaving elements.
These bricks are not God's doing. They are Satan’s tools and the world’s lies, undermining our perception of our God-given value and worth. Instead, God wants us to live freely and without burdens. Paul writes in Galatians 5:1 (NIV):
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Surely, Paul was thinking primarily of slavery from the Law that could not be fulfilled, advocating for free living in Christ's mercy and grace. But I believe that Jesus also came to free us from another slavery, the bondage and baggage that weigh us down and prevent us from living like we're loved.
To be effective in our seven-day practical faith journey, we must discard our baggage. We start with the black box, encountering what we have done, seeking forgiveness, and making restitution, whether to God or to others. Then we recognize whether we still carry that episode’s brick. We must release it - flush it - to remove the weight and move forward freely.
Please attend one or both of my come-and-go book parties, celebrating my pair of 2024 book releases! The in-person book party is May 11, Noon-2 pm, at Plano's Schimelpfenig Library (not sponsored by the City of Plano). The online book party is May 13, 7-9 pm Central, on Zoom. You can quickly scan the summaries and the agendas at the top of my home page, CecilTaylorMinistries.com. Please check them out and reserve space on your calendar!