WEDNESDAY - 10TH APRIL, 2024
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - Olusola ADEJUMO
LOOSE HIM AND LET HIM GO: FOR WHAT INTENT DID JESUS SAY THIS? - Loosed For Purpose Series 004
John 11:43-44, KJV
"43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go."
What a popular and incredible story of the Bible we have at hand to start with this morning! Even your boy is familiar with the narration of events here. Jesus calls forth Lazarus from the dead and he hearkens. He rose to the voice of the Ressurection and the Life : Jesus Himself (John 11:25-26). However, he rose being fettered and being in bonds as grave clothes are all scattered over him according to the Jewish system of burial. These stripes or clothes by which he's bandaged therefore hinder his proper activity and activeness. Though he walks by himself yet he walks restrictedly. So, he needs to be freed. He needs to be put in a condition where he could use his arm, extend it to grab things freely and his legs for speedy race. For that purpose, Jesus gives an instruction that is humanly carried out. It is to loose him and let him go.
However, we ought to ask, "to go where?" To what end did Jesus call forth Lazarus from the dead and commanded that he be loosed to have unrestricted movement or be loosed to let go? It's to the end that he might continue to live and live purposefully. God didn't bring Lazarus back from the dead to be idle or live frivolously. What makes him Jesus' friend is what Jesus restores him unto to continue to do. And that is the living out of purpose. Listen to me, if you're redeemed from death, accident, food poisoning, difficult child labour etc, don't be deceived that your life from thence forth should be spent only on food, clothing and the ephemerals of this world. God spares us for more than this! Jesus says, "is life not more than meat (food) and the body more than raiment (clothing) - Matt.6:25? It means the purpose for which life was given each of us is to live life and use it to serve the will of God in our specific generation. David did (Acts 13:36). God doesn't give life or restore it to you again to be gallivanting, clubbing, fornicating and wining all around. Jesus Himself asked if the life given us at creation or restored to somebody like Lazarus isn't more important than giving it only to the pursuit of bread, clothes and all sorts of human comfort. You must reorder your priority and let your life be given to purpose - why you were created. So, this is the reason why Jesus commanded that Lazarus be loosed. It's so that he could live life and live it more abundantly. If he were not loosed, he'll still be tied up and restricted somewhere. He'll seek expression even of movement and it wouldn't be fully possible for him. Even in his face, he'd be blinded by those cloth pieces or napkin and so would have knocked himself on things all around. But he was loosed so he'll have vision and unrestricted choice to pursue his purpose and that's the purpose of any "loose him or her to go." It is not to go to commence living in sin but to glorify God with one's life. It's to transit you into purpose. Have you been delivered from death or spared to continue to live somewhere? Then, don't only live but go and live more abundantly (by pursuing and living out your purpose).
PRAYER: Wherever I've not fulfilled the reason for carrying the breath of life or my being loosed to let go, kindly grant me an open sight and reordering of my life.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Deuteronomy 33:1-29, Luke 13:1-21, Psalm 78:65-72, Proverbs 12:25
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