Take Off Your Grave Clothes
Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hand and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” John 11: 43-44
After Jesus healed Lazarus and raised him from the dead, the first thing he instructed the people around him to do was to take off his grave clothes. Jesus did not want Lazarus living with the cloth and linen that would remind him of the sickness that brought him death. Jesus involved the people around Lazarus to help him take off his grave clothes because he did not want them to see or remember his sickness and death either. Jesus had saved Lazarus and gave him a new life. Jesus wanted people to see God’s new creation and not the sickness and disease that brought Lazarus to Jesus.
The same is true for all believers today. When we believe in Jesus we must take off our grave clothes and walk in the new life that Jesus died to give us. We must let go of any thoughts or things that remind us of our past mistakes, failures, weaknesses, or losses. We must loosen ourselves from anything that causes us to feel shame or guilt because that is not God’s will for our lives. Jesus told us to take off those clothes and go. Leave your past behind you and live for today. Open your eyes to see the bright future God has for you. Stop punishing yourself for things you cannot change. Those things are behind you now.
Friends, I urge you to see your fellow brothers and sisters as new creations and stop seeing them for who they were in the past. Stop thinking about their past mistakes and failures. Stop reminding them of their past mistakes and failures. Believe in them just as Jesus believes in you. There is no room for judgement and condemnation in the body of Christ. We cannot allow fear and doubts to rule in our hearts. We must believe that each person is made new in Jesus and trust Jesus with their life. We are commanded to love one another and build one another up!
Today is a great day to renew your spirit and remind yourself and take off any grave clothes you may be wearing. If someone is speaking death to themselves, remind them to take off their grave clothes and let it go. We are in this together!
Thank you Jesus that I am alive in you and it is not your will for me to live in the death of my past mistakes, failures, weaknesses, or anything that makes me feel shame, guilt or unworthy. You are greater and above it all! I believe in you and the new life you died to give me. Thank you Jesus for loving me no matter what. Nothing else compares. All glory, honor and praise in Jesus name. Amen.
Wynter Kettlewell 