My wife and I are in the process of moving to Washington, DC, right now, and I’ve got to tell you, one of the most freeing things about moving is purging.

It’s amazing the random stuff I’ve held onto – jackets I never wear, shoes that don’t fit, documents nobody will ever want to read again.  I’m not sure why I’ve resisted tossing this stuff – it’s like I get a weird sense of identity from some of it (like the odd memorabilia from my life).  And sometimes I feel guilty about throwing things away because it’s attached to a memory of someone significant.

But we’re serious about moving, which means we’re serious about purging – and therefore, the garbage can has become our best friend.

I’m becoming more like that with my emotional baggage as well as I grow in my faith.  I mean, so what if I got picked on up until my senior year of high school?  Does that have to define me until I’m a senior citizen?  And what about the weird hodgepodge of sins I’ve committed over the years – especially the ones that are an occasional source of embarrassment?  Like, can I just toss that junk and move on?

Yes – if the message of the cross is true, I can. “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20, NLT).

All of my sins and all of the emotional baggage that come with it: they died on the cross.  All of the sins committed against me and all the emotional baggage that come with those – they suffered the same fate: death.

Let’s purge today, folks.  Let’s roll out the trash can and celebrate the work of the cross that was completed 2000 years ago.  It’s time to move on.

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