Presented to TSA Harvest Community, 19 July 2026
by Major Michael Ramsay.
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
We have been unpacking a lot of boxes lately as we have just moved to Burnaby after 8 years on the Island. Moving is a difficult time: saying goodbye to old friends even as you prepare to make new friends; trying to tie up loose ends at your current position and find out as much as you can about your new one; cleaning the house from top to bottom; and packing boxes.
This year as we moved, we moved for the first time without 2 of our 3 daughters. They have grown up. Some of their stuff is still with us; as is all of our stuff. After 8 years in one place, you collect a lot of stuff. As we packed and picked up each item we had to decide: do we want to bring this with us into our new life in our new home, in our new city. That is the same as when we become a Christian or whenever we follow or move closer to our Lord. Do we want to bring whatever malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind with us that we have acquired thus far over a lifetime of living or do we want to leave it behind.
Actually, every day for all of us it really is like we are packing to move to our new heavenly home so every day we do have to decide what to take with us to the Kingdom to Come and what to leave behind.
So today, let us resolve not to fill our boxes with malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind but rather to leave those behind as we move closer to our Lord.
What other things might you wish to live behind as you pack to move into your heavenly home?
Originally published, Thursday, July 19, 2018 (https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/07/devotion-342143-1-peter-21-2-boxes.html)
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