Damaged Goods

They say that you are to be found complete in Christ alone...

This has been one of the hardest thing to understand growing up, because there seems to be a sense of unhappiness if all I can think about is Jesus. People telling me that I do not need to be with a girl in my life to be complete, that was something that I never could fully accept. So growing up and understanding what marriage is seems rather essential in my life and my pursuit.

I have been watching a TV series lately about teenagers and how they go through life and relationships. Much of their stories are messed up one way or another, but they all seem pretty realistic as a friend commented. I saw how each kid craved companionship and friendship in the manner that fulfilled their desires and emptiness that lingered in their hearts. Meaning to be a more comedic series, it turned out to be more emotional because of the realness of the stories.

For the past 10 to 12 years, I have come to witness the trails of the pursuit of companionship and how difficult it is. The struggles often comes from the fact that each of us carry baggage but not all of us deal with them properly. So it is often that we seek to deal with those baggage through the companions that we seek after, and I know that I have done that.

I must say that much of my failed relationships is largely due to unable to process some of my baggage properly and before I could deal with it, I am already falling for someone who would save me from my deficiency. So I am trying to make sense of how does someone deal with their baggage properly before they can say that they are ready? My answer seems to point towards the fact that we will never fully deal with our baggage.

A friend of mine was talking to me about this issue lately and the word often being used is 'damaged.' As I think through over and over again about this word and it started to hit me that baggage is not the proper word for this but damage is. We all have baggage one way or another, even until the day we die, but the baggage that we carry needs to be in the proper condition; it should not be damaged. Baggage simply means background and experiences, but our experiences does not need to be bad, however it does need to be in proper condition. A proper baggage that we have to carry would always be easier than one that is damaged. So just the very same way where our experiences needs to be dealt with properly and healthily to carry on for the next journey.

How do we deal with damaged baggage?...

All is found in Christ alone...

God does not necessarily get rid of our baggage but he does help us to carry it. But he wants to repair the damages of our baggage so that it would do us good for whatever comes our way in the future. So completeness is found in Jesus being gracious to us, as it is sufficient in all that we go through, not that He gives us a smooth and trouble-free life.

So what are you carrying on your back? What is your baggage like? The answer should not be 'nothing' or 'none'. It is either wholly complete in Christ... or damaged goods.