A REAL COMING OUT PARTY

 

John 17:44
........"Unwrap him and let him go!"

Jesus commands to the men who are standing around the tomb of Lazarus.
Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, was now alive.
Alive because Jesus had commanded life to return to Lazarus.
Alive, but bound up by the grave clothes.

What we read in John 17 is the mandate that we, as followers of Jesus, have been commanded to do.
To loose the prisoners....
To speak life to the spiritually dead.
To bring freedom to the captives of sin.

"Michael, you sure are caught up in this whole 'sin' thing."
Well, yeah I am.
It is the influence and nature that fuels the need for drugs and/or alcohol.
It drives greed.
It demands that its needs and desires come before anything else.
As we fall prey to its instructions, we become more and more a slave.
It becomes harder and harder to see truth and the reality of the state you are living in. Thinking become muddled and you fall prey to what I refer to as "Addicta-logic". 

Here is step # 1 in the Twelve Missteps of Life Recovery
#1 - "I can quit tomorrow".
Tomorrow has no power or strength to initiate change into our lives. Today -- right now---is where the power is! Waiting even one more day is a decision to stay on a path that has proven to be destructive. (Recovery Bible -pg.412)
James 4:14 - "How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? You life is the morning fog---it's here a little while then it is gone."

We live our lives like Lazarus...
WE may be breathing....but we are bound in the grave clothes of sin.
And it takes a power greater than ourselves who can say the words..."Unwrap him and let him go!" We do not possess the power, ability or will to break free from the sin/grave clothes that separate us from real life found in a relationship with Christ. 

There are two many who never take off their grave clothes and live out their days in downward spiral of self inflicted grief and misery. Who never smell or taste the intoxicating life that is found in Christ. 

I never really know who reads these posts that I write daily. But I trust that if you are reading it today, you will let Jesus speak to your heart...and that you here the love in His voice as He speaks the same command over you that He spoke to Lazarus..."Come forth...and live".

God on you today....
michael b.