(Gen 26:12-14 KJV) Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
Without doubt… a man reaps what he sows, but how much of it should he keep, how much of it should he share and how much should he throw away? For even though a man may plant a seed and even though he may water that seed… only ‘God’ makes it grow…
We see in the passage above a man who has learned to work with nature’s abundance collecting everything that he has initiated to grow and taking it all along with him wherever he went. He did this not out of greed, but simply because in ‘creating’ something, it became his responsibility (like a good shepherd)…. Otherwise he would have abandoned or neglected it. Yet this care is double edged since it is both an abundance and an excess, the burden of which is lessened by the quantity of love and care involved.
There is also another element to this story which is common in the Bible and that is the thread of human ‘jealousy’… the Philistines (like Cain who killed his brother Abel), have their eye on Isaac and his abundance. In their eyes, there is an injustice being done, not knowing or caring how much love Isaac has sowed for his extended family, all they see is that he has more than they, while they are just poorer and hungry. Yet another side to this story is the question, how many wives, children, servants and flocks does a man need or should he have anyway?
Isaac was effectively a good man and was blessed with all this abundance because he was doing the right thing by God.
However, that does not necessarily mean that anyone with many wives, children, servants and flocks is also a good man… many men acquire such abundance by ill gotten means…. But for Isaac these things were a gift of God and he loved and cared for them all.
One man sows nothing and goes hungry, another sows seed and grows rice, while another sows seed and grows mangos… is this unjust? Does the man who goes hungry have the right to steal the rice or kill the mango grower?
Baggage is anything that holds us back and inhibits our freedom of movement and our life. There have been times in my life where I have been forced to wear a suit and tie and carry a briefcase in order to feed my family. Traditional values have little to do with what is right and true, they are a kind of mental baggage from past values that have often been superseded but are held onto generation after generation for a sense of identity. Do we need to carry baggage in paradise? Is this not work and contrary to the “Sabbath” which one imagines in paradise is every day.
To be free of all physical and mental baggage is the most liberating experience and one which every human being should seek, because without this God given liberty, we are doomed whether we do nothing, sow grass seed or grow fruit trees, because whatever you achieve will be always be in danger from ignorant, fearful, greedy Philistines.
Mat 6:19-21 KJV) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
BAGGAGE