That word probably brings up memories of childhood or meeting someone for the first time. Maybe a favorite toy from years ago, or the place where you first saw that one person. I don’t see anything wrong with sentimentality on the surface, but, as we tend to do, it has been warped over the years.

I have collected seemingly worthless things over the years. Ticket stubs, articles, bottle caps, and some stuff that is odd enough that I’d rather not tell you. There is nothing wrong with my “collection,” but there are only memories at best. Some of the stuff, like an empty hot sauce bottle, I can’t even give you a reason for saving it. I’m planning to throw it away, but still feel the urge to rationalize keeping it.

The bulk of what I have is compact, and doesn’t get in the way, but that isn’t a reason to hold onto it. Though my sentimentality has not gotten in the way of life, it holds the potential to. If I were to be more aggressive in keeping things, the amount would grow and I would soon have to be moving things to one side or another so that I could get through. That sounds extreme, but it does happen.

What does this have to do with anything? We all do this at some level in our spiritual lives. There is something that we hold onto despite the fact that we need to get rid of it. For the sake of my fondness of puns, I’m going to call it “sintimentality.” There is some bad habit that you can think of quite easily that brings back what seem like good memories, but that needs to go. Keeping it causes us harm.

I can give one good reason to let go of it, and this one is more than enough. In Christ, we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). The old has to be dropped for the new to fully come. We can’t let sintimental feelings hold us back.

Anybody want a cleaned hot sauce bottle?