God has made it abundantly clear to me that while I am, in fact, fully alive in Him, I am still walking around like a dead man.
I mentioned this story about Lazarus in my first post, but I want to take another look at it, this time from a little different perspective.
In John 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, but even though he was alive again, he was still in his grave clothes. For us, grave clothes can be defined as anything holding us back from everything God has for us. In verse 44, Jesus turns to Martha and Mary, Lazarus’ sisters, and tells them, ‘Take off his grave clothes and let him go.”
“’Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to [Martha and Mary], ‘Take off his grave clothes and let him go’” (John 11:43-44).
At training camp, one of the many incredible kingdom-bringing people my squad and I had the opportunity to listen to and learn from was Clint Bokelman. Clint threw dooooown (like with fire and flames) some raw, pungent and much needed truth.
One topic he addressed that really stuck with me is about the excuses we make for why God can’t use us to bring the kingdom of heaven down to earth. These excuses are not from God, and they do not fulfill his purposes. Each and every one of us is worthy and capable of doing kingdom work solely because we are Sons and Daughters of the King. Period. God doesn’t need us – he is the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth – nevertheless, he chooses to invite us, his unconditionally loved sons and daughters, to just go do stuff – awesome, earth-shaking, life-giving stuff – with him, our dad. How beautiful is that?
However, it is impossible to go and proclaim about a God who gives love, freedom, peace, and joy if we are covered in excuses or identities that are anything other than Son or Daughter of the King! We will look no different than those that are dead and in need of Jesus.
Clint gave us the opportunity to shout out and proclaim over ourselves the clothes (excuses and false identities) were choosing to take off in order that God may fully use us and that we may experience the full and abundant blessings of joy, peace, and freedom Christ offers us.
Here are some of the things I am choosing to take off:
I am taking off my excuses of inadequacy.
I am taking off my selfish priorities.
I am taking off my fear of failure.
I am taking off my fear of being fully known.
I am taking off my fear of looking like a religious freak.
I am taking off my fear of God doing something so crazy that it might shatter certain safe beliefs of mine.
I am taking off my need to be in control.
I am taking off my judgmental, haughty eyes.
I am taking off my pride.
I am taking off more pride (I have a lot).
I am taking off even more pride (I have more than I think I do haha).
I am taking off the chains that Christ has set me free from that I still run back to and put back on.
I am taking off my desire for independence.
I am taking off the false self I hide behind to feel safe.
I am taking off bitterness, hostility, hate, and unforgiveness.
Now I can’t be walkin’ all up around the world naked! So here are the things of life that I’m putting on…
I am putting on the sufficient grace of Christ Jesus. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
I am putting on confidence in the Spirit. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:7; “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” Jeremiah 17:7
I am putting on fearlessness. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power, love, and self control.” 2 Timothy 1:7; “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” 1 John 4:18
I am putting on total freedom. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1; “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17
I am putting on the supernatural joy of the Lord. “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:8-9
I am putting on love first and foremost, and then compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” 1 John 3:14; “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience… And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-14
I am putting on His righteousness. ”I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” Isaiah 61:10; “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Romans 3:22
I am putting on full dependence on God. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5
I am putting on trust in Him who is so much stinkin greater than I. “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
I am putting on trust in the community He provides me. “Two are better than one, because they have good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can pick him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
I am putting on a heart that beats for God’s plans and purposes, not my own. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
I am putting on eyes that see what really matters. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Now while all this taking off and putting on is so very empowering and even liberating to say, here’s the thing: Jesus did not tell Lazarus to go into the privacy of his home to take off his grave clothes, nor did Jesus simply take them off for him and hand him a nice, shiny new robe. Instead, Jesus told the people that loved him deeply and were there with him to take those dead people clothes off of him. Lazarus had to be vulnerable to the point of being completely naked in front of those that cared about him most in order to be stripped of his grave garments. Only then could he be clothed in the garments of life – the things that God intends for those who are alive in Christ to be clothed in.
It is certainly true that apart from God, I cannot take off these clothes, but it is also true that apart from my brothers and sisters in Christ, I cannot take them off either.
I really don’t know what this is going to look like for me. But I do know that, like everything else I am learning, it is going to be a process. This process is beginning this year with my awesome N squad, but it will continue on long after that until the end of this life. All this constant taking off and putting on seems kind of dreadful, but I think it is also really beautiful to know that the God of the universe is always inviting us, his precious children, to go further and deeper with him. Imagine where we would be if our response was always yes.
Scratch that – don’t imagine; see for yourself.
