Living Out of the World’s Suitcase

In the 1980s, my father accompanied me on a trip to speak at a youth camp in Salta, one of the northern provinces of Argentina. We rode a bus to get there with all the luggage stacked on top of the bus. When we arrived in Salta several hours later, my dad’s suitcase was not there. He had to live out of my suitcase for the entire camp. It was uncomfortable because he had to wear clothes that didn’t fit him. Everyone has their own things they feel most comfortable with, so it was an inconvenience.  In a few days, we returned home, and an interesting thing happened later that week in the city of Tucuman, where we lived. Our neighbor, Mussy, after hearing of our plight with the missing suitcase, noticed in the newspaper that the police had published a notice of a suitcase belonging to Mr. Brooks. We immediately went to the police and surprisingly were able to reclaim the lost suitcase. Even though it had fallen off the bus over 200 miles away, someone had dropped it off in our city.

It’s ironic how many people have misplaced or lost their God-given suitcases. They are living life out of someone else’s suitcase. They are impressed with someone else’s talent, skill, or beauty and try to be somebody else. How much better to find your own bag of skills, talents, and personality and use what God has given you for his glory. Only when we are who we were meant to be will we be content. Worse than that is trying to wear the world’s clothes when we follow Christ. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about putting off the clothes that belong to this world and putting on the clothes that the Spirit gives us.

The greatest work of the Spirit is to produce the fruits in our lives. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit is involved in our progress by allowing him to grow those fruits. The Holy Spirit rejoices or grieves over us (Ephesians 4:30). Paul encourages the Ephesians to stop lying, control their anger, don’t steal, but work instead and stop speaking unwholesome talk (Eph 4:24-30). This is the world suitcase. It is easy to lie, get angry, steal, and talk with profane words. Paul encourages us to throw these clothes away and “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph 4:32).

When my first granddaughter was very small, we used to go to Jeff City occasionally to take care of her for a few hours. We were doing that one day, but she never wanted anything to do with me, just her grandma. Of course, that was challenging to take, but I was determined to win her over. On this occasion, Marilyn was in the bathroom, blow-drying her hair. Adela was outside the door crying for her, but Grandma couldn’t hear her. Finally, Adela got tired and approached me with her arms wide open as if to say, ” OK, I don’t have any other options. I took her in my arms; that is where she has been ever since. Forgiveness can feel like that sometimes. We resist and resist until we finally give in, and then we realize that is what we needed all the time.