New life.

Some time ago I was struck by the Lazarus story in a brand new way.  When Lazarus came out of the tomb to live again, he came out in his burial clothes…bound hand and foot with grave-clothes on.  Alive … but bound.

Jesus made an extraordinary comment to Lazarus’ friends standing around him.  Loose him, and let him go.  With all that power and love in action, there was still something left undone, it seemed.  The friends were asked to unwrap the gift that had just been given to both Lazarus and themselves.

Being one who stumbles over the obvious, I would have started asking questions – was this an incomplete work?  was there some faith lacking somewhere, did someone hinder the work of completion, or … perhaps I would have simply walked away saying something religious sounding like ‘God will bring it to completion in time’.  

But all that was really needed, was a birthday party … the joy of unwrapping gifts that are simply, gifts.  Who took off the wrap that was around Lazarus’ face and got to look at the brightness in his eyes?  Who was the one who unbound his hands and touched familiar, warm skin?

Jesus didn’t do something incomplete, He simply new how to make the joy deeper for the entire party standing there.

Shared.

Finding my way from ‘alive, but bound’ to ‘living and moving’ has been breathtaking.  Difficult, exhilarating, and even celebratory at times.  The One that has called us by name, out of the grave, has a place for us to live and move.

Each tiny step, I discovered, was really an issue of the heart.  Springs of living water have begun to flow in a place where there was nothing but desert.  I had a dried up heart that not only left me parched…but drew the life out of those that dared to stay too long there with me.  The freshness is flooding me with new living.  Breath.  Freedom.  Movement.  Like Lazarus. 

Like Lazarus did, I want to share living again with those standing nearby, discussing the miraculous nature of our Savior, and calling out breath, freedom and movement in others.

Positioned.

Mighty:  a move of strength that is not limited by the moment.  Miraculous.  Something we receive from a mighty God that can not be added to … like living again. 

Yet, amazingly, I chose to deny its expression, oblivious to the good that I was choosing to do without. ‘Alive, but bound.’  I was denying the expression of life.  A miracle of living, encased in the shadow of death.  But why? 

Unlike Lazarus, who was moving again right away, I unknowingly chose (yes, I think that is possible to do) to remain in my grave-clothes for far too long.  Disappointment.  Fear.  Wounds.  Shame.  And even ignorance.  I wasn’t looking past the grave-clothes to the Giver of Life standing just a few feet away.  

A heart positioned on grave-clothes = living, but bound.

Where should the heart be?  And how do you move it?

Re-positioned.

When He first started speaking to me I was writing thoughts, and questions, on sticky notes.  I was in high school and an exploration began of the differences or similarities of the words ‘mind’ and ‘heart’ in the scripture.  The same?  Different?  What was the effect of one on the other?

I made a lot of notes on a lot of stickies but I didn’t linger long enough to hear the answers.  It was certainly something I needed.

I had received His truth (i.e. their was life and breath) … but there was no movement.  There was just no expression of His new life in me.  Embracing truths, diligently seeking, acting on prompts, engaging in battle, serving in love, shouting out praise, diligently obeying, hiding in His shadow, resisting the enemy, speaking to mountains … nothing.  What can one really do when they’re still wearing grave-clothes?

Re-position the heart.

Planting the heart (whether wounded, dry, calloused, growing or simply seeking) in the living words of scripture began the restoration that had been long missing.  Obediently moving on living truths released the grave-clothes and really living joyfully emerged.

Sometimes instantly, sometimes years in the process, I learned to embrace the exchange of Christ’s beautiful robe of righteousness for the worn out grave clothes.  Freedom, breath, joy and power exhilarate the soul.  Living had finally found it’s expression. 

Bright eyes and warm skin began to be revealed.

The truth that had been discovered was that living required moving.  Obediently moving.  Positioning my heart deep inside living truths and promises brought the fulfillment of them…and the expression of life.

Every single day, and every single event, has the power to give my heart a nudge.  Sometimes up, sometimes down.  Or sometimes a crushing blow.  But a heart, firmly planted in the living word lives (and moves) securely.  

‘Bound’ is no way to live.  But a well-placed heart discovers the exhilaration of living.  Healed, rebuilt, joy-filled living.