I was riding down the road yesterday morning, listening to one of the few radio stations that still plays Southern gospel music on Sunday mornings, WCON radio "My Country", in Cornelia, GA.
A song began, one that I had never heard. The title was "My Name is Lazarus". It was a catchy song, about the biblical character, Lazarus - - brother of Mary and Martha of Bethany, all close friends of Jesus. If you want to listen to it, the link is in the Sources below.1
Loyal readers to this blog may remember that I visited the site purported to be Lazarus' tomb when I visited Israel for the first time, back in January, 2018. A picture from that day in Bethany is above. The area is in the town of Bethany (surprise!), which is now part of the West Bank. It is controlled by the Palestinians, and we had to pay a "keeper" at the site, in order to be allowed entrance into the tomb.
Down, down, down into the ground we went, via these musty, damp steps. It felt like we descended hundreds of feet, although it surely was not. In the photo, Chris and I were standing in "the tomb".
Driving down the road, I thought about all this and also about how my name is Lazarus too. (What?!)
No, I've not yet physically died, nor was I physically resurrected. However, until I was about 9 years old, I was dead in every way that mattered. I was spiritually dead.
Oh, I had (and still have) a soul and spirit. The difference is: prior to August of 1967 they were dead. (Even more dead than Lazarus.) Now, they are spiritually alive. I surely do praise God for that!
The apostle Paul said this on the subject, speaking to a church in Ephesus, people who had become Christ-followers:
1As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins...
Ephesians 2:1a
"Were" is such a wonderful word, in this context! Lazarus was dead, completely incapable of generating life on his own as he lay there moldering in the grave.2
Before we came to salvation in Jesus Christ, we were a worse kind of dead, and similarly incapable of "raising ourselves", of saving ourselves. Somebody pointed out that if something is dead, it can't do anything on its own, not even respond. Jesus said,
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him."
John 6:44.
Because He has loved us with an everlasting love, He pursues us, in order to initiate that love relationship with us, in order to make the dead come alive, to bring the dead to life. I am so deeply grateful for that. Paul goes on to say....
4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
Ephesians 2:4-5
To be honest, there are times when I still feel dead.
- When I sin
- When I am disappointed
- When I am sad
- When I am focusing on what isn't, instead of what is
Those times.
Fortunately, though, the truth, the gospel, the good news - - - they are not changed by my feelings. Hallelujah for that! And, God gave me a whole, whopping book of reminders, a heaping volume of truth to counteract that pity party junk. When I go there and spend time with Him, worship Him, listen for Him, He tenderly reminds me of His love, which transcends all earthly sorrows.
"When I in the chains of death was bound,
this Man named Jesus pulled me out."
- - - Rodney Griffin, "My Name is Lazarus"
Sources:
2 "Moldering" is an old English word, not much used these days. It means "rotting".
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