Devotion:
Read John 11:38-44.
By the time Jesus commanded the stone to be rolled away, Lazarus had been dead four days. Martha protested that there would be an odor. Or, as the King James Version says, "Lord, he stinketh!" A body that has not been embalmed begins to noticeably decay and smell after three days, especially when exposed to heat. Sometimes, in order to have a resurrection, matters are foul and messy. Resurrections do not happen when all is sterile and clean and smelling like our favorite room deodorizer. When we need healing, it's because there's been a mess of some sort.
The stone had to be removed in order for the miracle to occur. Jesus could have moved it himself. Removing the stone is an important part of the miracle. This was hard. His friends did not want to take away the stone because they had already given up. They had lost hope. Our situations may seem hopeless too, beyond help. We may even seem desperate. In my own time of hopelessness, I have found it serves me best to focus on the God of hope. It's hard. It really is. We have to remove the stone that is preventing God from working in our lives. What is your stone? Is there something that needs to be removed in order for God to go to work in your life? A bad attitude? Lack of forgiveness? Anger? Busyness? Fear? Denial of the truth? The stones have to be removed to allow God to work. God wants us to participate in our own breakthrough and cooperate with him.
Lazarus had to respond to the call from death into life. Lazarus came out with his feet and hands bound with graveclothes. His face was also wrapped in a cloth. Once again Jesus gave instructions: “Take off the grave clothes. One version says, "Unbind him and let him go.” The community needed to assist in the resurrection. "Unbind him, and let him go." How terrifying to take off the graveclothes! What would you do?
Isn't it wonderful to have the fellowship of other believers to help us get untangled from our grave clothes? We need community. We need each other to help us with the action of resurrection. So many of our faith stories involve unbinding somebody, helping people to live life out of the bandages. The community has the power to either wind those burial clothes tightly around people or unwind them. Are there people in your life that you are keeping bound up? Are you refusing to forgive someone? Are you holding on to the past and need to release someone from that past? Is there someone you need to release from control?
We all are in graveclothes of some sort. We all are bound up by something that keeps us in the tomb. What things keep you bound in your graveclothes? Does someone need to unbind you? Do you need to unbind yourself and take off anything that resembles death? Take off those negative thoughts, that angry attitude, the hurtful words, and the aggressive actions so that God can give you a resurrected life. He wants us to come to him when he calls our name. He wants us to shed our grave clothes and walk in new life with him.
Personal Worship Option:
If you are not struggling to unbind yourself today, maybe God is calling you to unbind someone else. Ask God to increase your willingness to be an unbinder so when God calls you to unbind and let them go, you will step forward.
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