Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

John 11:44

Life can get a little tricky when you’re all tied up.

As we can see from His response when Lazarus walked out of his grave, Jesus knew this fact. You can read the entire story in John 11:1-44. Those who witnessed the miracle were told to remove his grave clothes and let Lazarus go. He would need his hands, feet, and eyesight to get on with his new life.

Now that we have celebrated the resurrection of Jesus this past weekend, perhaps we should give some thought to our own resurrected lives. Have we removed our grave clothes and walked into our new life? Or are we hopping around sightless, still caught up in worldly wrappings?

This may be where I was lacking in my first years as a Christian.

I knew Jesus but I couldn’t follow very well because I had not removed my grave clothes. They kept tripping me up and hobbled my progress. And seeing which way Jesus went was impossible with a blindfold on. Then there was the smell. I still reeked of death. I had been called out of the grave but hadn’t completely given up worldly living. My life did not display the real miracle which had occurred making me alive.

Many places in the New Testament says that if we are in Christ—accepting His gift of forgiveness for our sin—then we are made alive in Jesus. One passage found in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, says we are

“a new creation; old things have passed away, and new things have come.”

Those “old things” that are gone, they are sins that bind us up.

Romans 6 really helps us understand our new life in Christ. Romans 6:4 says, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way.” That way we can be free from the trappings of our old life. Just as Lazarus, our resurrection from the dead life we were leading is to bring glory to the Father. How can glory be accomplished if we continue in our old ways? We must take our grave clothes off and walk unhampered into our new lives with Jesus.

“For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 6:10-11