Removing Grave Cloths

I decided to memorizes the third chapter of Colosians but instead of starting with the whole chapter or even a whole verse I started with the first word picture. I let the thought grow and take shape in my mind.  There was no hurry only the paint brush of God's Word washing over the other thoughts in my mind and replacing them with this, "If then you have been raised with Christ."

As I considered what it would be like to be raised with Christ suddenly I thought of Lazerus. He knew what it was like to be dead and and then to be raised. As I meditated on this it was as if I was there with Jesus on the hillside. I could almost hear him shout, "Lazerus, come out. " Then in my mind I saw Lazerus, a man once dead now raised to life.

Lazerus was alive! "The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth." (John 11:44) As I looked at this picture of Lazerus raised with Christ yet bound by grave cloths my mind began to trace through the epistles. Again and again we are encouraged to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Yes,  Lazerus was alive but those grave cloths needed to be removed.

I heard a man giving his testimony. He had an addiction that caused him agony.  He prayed and pleaded with God to take the addiction away. Then one day he understood the gospel. He saw his sin and addiction nailed to the cross, he heard Jesus cry, "It is finished! " But that is only part of the gospel. By faith he was buried and raised with Christ. He like Lazerus knew what it meant to be raised with Christ.

People asked him," Were you free from you addiction immediately or was it a process?" His answer was simply, "Yes." When Jesus sets you free you are free indeed.  Just look at Lazerus, for four days his body lay rotting in the tomb but when he heard Jesus' voice calling to him he was alive even though he was bound by grave cloths! The man went on to say he no longer identified himself by his temptations but by his new life in Jesus Christ.  I doubt Lazerus was identified as a man once bound by grave cloths but instead I believe he was known as the man who was raised from the dead by Jesus Christ.