A Chinese woman, surnamed Zhao, while making a connection at the Beijing airport, was told by security that she could not take an expensive bottle of cognac in her carry-on. Since it was too late to access her checked-in luggage, it appeared she had no choice but to leave it behind.
But Zhao was determined not to let a $200 dollar bottle of Remy Martin XO Excellence go to waste, so she drank the entire bottle! Now she faced a new problem. Too drunk to stand, security — out of concern for her own safety — could not allow her to board. Instead, unable to continue her journey, she was escorted in a wheelchair to a room where she slept until a family member was able to come and pick her up. [1]
Some things become so important to us that we have trouble letting them go. Instead, to our own detriment, we cling to them. Of course, we’re not just referring to expensive cognac. There is a moment in time when virtually everything we hold dear must be relinquished if we are to continue moving forward on our journey. Otherwise, we undermine our own spiritual health and contentment.
As Corrie ten Boom was famous for saying, “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.”
There is, however, one notable exception to this otherwise universal rule. You can never cling too long or too hard to Jesus. In fact, the more life slips away, the more important it becomes to cling even tighter to Him.
And as you cling, be assured that Jesus will never leave you, and nothing — absolutely nothing — can ever separate you from the love that He has for you — something that can’t be said of anything or anyone else.
If only we would savor every drop of communion with Christ the way this woman savored every drop of her cognac.
“My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you…” (Isaiah 26:9). “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35).
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1. “A Woman Chugged a Bottle of Liquor Because She Couldn’t Take It on the Plane,” Helen Regan, TIME, August 14, 2015; < http://time.com/4009310/china-woman-drunk-cognac-plane-remy-martin >