Today is Pack Rat Day.

Consider yourself a pack rat if you have: more than a dozen stuffed animals under your bed; if you have worksheets from first grade in your desk drawers; or if you still have five-year-old magazines tucked away in the closet.

By definition, a pack rat is a person who can’t bear to throw away anything. Now, we all have our pack rat tendencies—some items that we just can’t part with. You may have the box of swim team ribbons that you hold on to long after you have quit the team, or the Pokémon cards you’re saving . . . just in case they make a comeback.

Did you know that a person can be a spiritual pack rat? Take the Pharisees, for example. These were a group of religious leaders during Jesus’ time who were the keepers of the rules. They strictly followed the Ten Commandments, but then they had also added hundreds of their own rules, traditions, and teachings to God’s law. And they believed that their rules were just as important as God’s rules. Like pack rats, they had collected all these rules over the years and then tried to force others to follow and live by their rules.

By Jesus’ day, the people were under a terrible burden trying their best to keep all those rules. Jesus said, “[The religious leaders] crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden” (Matthew 23:4). Thankfully for the people then (and for us today), Jesus came to take that burden away.

Believing in Jesus is what connects us to God. It’s all you need to have eternal life. No amount of rules—no matter how many you accumulate or follow—will earn your way into heaven.

For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light (Matthew 11:30).

To Do

Take a look in your closet, or under your bed, or in your desk. Throw out anything you haven’t used in a long time!

Also on this day . . .

1804—Napoleon became the Emperor of France.

1875—The first Kentucky Derby was held at Churchill Downs.

1989—The longest cab ride ever was recorded at 14,000 miles and cost $16,000.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.