Imagine yourself at the airport, standing at the baggage carousel. A torn, overstuffed suitcase comes rolling toward you—taped together, heavy, leaking. It looks like someone has had a rough trip. But then you notice the tag: it has your name on it.

That suitcase isn’t just full of clothes. It’s full of your past:

• Rejection
• Betrayal
• Childhood trauma
• Unresolved conflicts
• Words you wish you could un-hear

The truth is, many of us carry baggage like this into every relationship, every workplace, every church, and every new season. And every time someone bumps against it, we react—not because of what just happened, but because of what’s still packed inside. Some of us are still living out of baggage God never meant for us to carry.

“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” – Hebrews 12:15 (NIV)

Unresolved emotional baggage doesn’t remain hidden. It grows, spreads, and eventually hurts not only us but also the people around us.

God Wants to Inspect Your Baggage

At the airport counter, security always asks a few important questions:

• Did you pack this bag yourself?
• Has anyone asked you to carry something for them?
• Are you aware of what’s not allowed inside?

The purpose is protection—because what’s in the bag could be dangerous to everyone on the journey.

Spiritually, God asks similar questions:

• Who told you that you weren’t enough?
• Who made you feel like love had to be earned?
• What lie did you accept and pack away as truth?

Not everything you’re carrying belongs in your next season. Offense, shame, and control often come from past experiences, but God wants to unpack them. Without inspection, you risk carrying something dangerous into your destiny.

Heavy Baggage Is Always Over the Limit

After inspection, comes the weigh-in. You hold your breath as the suitcase goes on the scale. Then come the dreaded words: “You’re over the limit. You’ll have to take some things out.”

The same applies spiritually. Some of us are trying to move forward while carrying excess weight:

• Old offenses we never released
• Emotional burdens from broken people who hurt us
• Guilt from decisions long past
• Expectations that were never from God

And it leaves us feeling drained, angry, anxious, numb, and stuck.

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

– Psalm 55:22

God isn’t asking you to carry it all. He’s asking you to surrender it. You can argue to keep it—insisting that pain, grudges, or insecurities are part of who you are—but the truth is clear: you can either hold onto the weight and stay grounded, or release it to Him and rise into your future.

Unclaimed Baggage Doesn’t Disappear

Airports have entire storage rooms filled with unclaimed baggage. Each suitcase has a tag and a story, but because no one claims it, it sits in storage—forgotten, mishandled, and eventually recycled into someone else’s life.

Spiritually, unclaimed baggage works the same way. The issues you ignore don’t disappear. They sit in storage, waiting for the next trigger to pull them back out.

• Anger you never faced
• Hurt you never processed
• Trauma you buried
• Unforgiveness you minimized

Life eventually brings those bags back around on the carousel. They circle until you decide to deal with them. As Hebrews 12:15 reminds us, bitter roots start small and unseen, but left alone, they grow into destructive forces that affect many.

Jesus Claims the Bag for You

Picture yourself again at the carousel. The overstuffed, heavy suitcase with your name on it comes around. You know it’s yours, but you’re too exhausted, ashamed, or broken to pick it up. Then a hand reaches out—strong, scarred, steady—and grabs it before you can. It’s Jesus.

He looks at you and says: “That one’s yours. I’ve been waiting for you to claim it—not to carry it, but to surrender it. I died for that baggage. You don’t have to carry it anymore. I’ll take it from here.”

He carries it to the cross and leaves it there. Even when you protest—“But it’s mine. I made that mess.”—He answers: “Yes, but I paid for it. You’re free to go.” That is the gospel. Jesus doesn’t just identify your baggage—He carries it. He doesn’t just expose your wounds—He heals them.

“Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.” – Isaiah 53:4 (NLT)

Releasing What You’ve Carried Too Long

Many of us have been dragging baggage for years:

• Pain we never processed
• Emotional weight we’ve normalized but that’s killing our peace
• Patterns that are flashing red flags in our relationships, faith, or mental health

The invitation of Jesus is simple: stop dragging it, and start surrendering it.

God doesn’t want you living stuck at the carousel. The cross was enough. You don’t have to pick that baggage up again.

Final Thought

Unresolved baggage will keep circling your life until you finally deal with it. The red flags may be flashing in your relationships, emotions, or faith—but Jesus stands ready to take what you cannot carry.

Don’t let your baggage keep you grounded. Let Him lift the weight so you can rise freely into your future.