Off With The Grave Clothes!

Photo credit: http://anglicanorthodoxchurch.blogspot.com.ng

John 11 tells the story of how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Personally, I have been challenged by that passage of the Scriptures and I have learnt so much from it. This week, I will be directing our hearts to an interesting statement our Lord made after He had called Lazarus forth from the grave:

“Loose him, and let him go.”

John 11:44

The usual way bodies were prepared for burial in Palestine at the time involved wrapping many folds of linen strips in swaddling bands. Such rolls of linen would have made it extremely difficult if not impossible for any living person to move around. They were not meant for the living, they were grave clothes after all.

Lazarus still had all his grave clothes on even after Jesus had raised him to life and it was these rolls of linen that Jesus asked the people to unbind Lazarus from. Jesus knew that the demands of life were not compatible with the paraphernalia of the grave. Though Lazarus had been in the grave for some days and even if his body had perhaps become accustomed to the “comfort” of those linen strips, the miracle of his restoration to life by our Lord meant he needed to take off those grave clothes.

This is the same point the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul communicates to us in his epistle to the Ephesians:

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Ephesians 4:22 – 24 NIV

When we come to faith in Christ, a tremendous change occurs in our lives. A radical change, the greatest miracle of all takes place. We are made alive and redeemed (see previous posts in the “In Him” series for more details). However, we must realize that we cannot live the new life in Christ with the “old grave clothes” of our former lives. The demands of the new life are not compatible with the paraphernalia of the old self.

This new life demands a radical change in lifestyle, values, standards, goals and conduct that will only be possible when we renew our minds.

“…be made new in the attitude of your minds…”

Ephesians 4:23 NIV 

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

Romans 12:2 NIV

Lazarus needed to be unbound from his physical grave clothes. We need to unbind the grave clothes in our minds. Patterns of our previous life need to be changed. Some of those thoughts have become entrenched in our minds like mighty strongholds (2^nd Corinthians 10:4 & 5). In addition, on-going influences in our world and in the culture around us continually attempt to conform us to the world’s pattern. But as we allow the word of God to have an influence on our minds, those “old grave clothes” become loosened.

So dear believer in Christ, this week I encourage you to expose yourself to the word of God and learn to focus your mind on His truth. Off with the “old grave clothes”, abandon the old life and embrace your new life in Christ.