Don’t Unbury the Dead

How many times have we taken things to God only to pick them back up as we leave the altar? For me, I know it is too many to count. Not just in asking for help, but in all areas of life: repenting and accepting the forgiveness of sins, letting go of unforgiveness towards others, trusting, and the list could go on and on. So time after time, we ask God for help, and yet we don’t accept His help or give Him the chance to help us.

In Col. 2:12 the Bible says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.” The “old you” has been buried, done away with, GONE! Why? Why do we continue to go back and try to pick any of it back up? When we unbury the dead it STINKS!   Those things that have been buried are buried for a reason. They are gone, done away with, never to be picked up and used again.

Our problem is that when everyday challenges arise, or become stressful, whether it is relationships, unforgiveness, school issues, drugs, alcohol, finances, etc. instead of seeking after God, and the life He would have for us, we head back to the same habits as before Christ delivered us. This is mainly because it seems comforting, but it is a false comfort.

As Christians, when challenges arise, we need to be looking to God for the answers, instead of falling into old habits. We need to be opening that Bible collecting dust in the back window of the car, and actually reading it. We need to be praying and petitioning God for his wisdom and then actually listening for his answer. Then comes the really hard part. The part that takes faith. The part that takes courage. We have to take off our spiritual diapers and put on our big boy (or girl) pants and actually DO what He told us to do! Sometimes it may be something very simple that he instructs us to do. Other times is may seem unreal – like when he asks you to just wait. It boggles our brain because God’s ways do not mesh with the way our “old self” operated and fear begins to set in.

The fear of stepping out into the new or unknown keeps us from becoming all that we are destined to be. 2Cor. 5:17 says, “If anyone is IN CHRIST, he is a NEW Creation!” Something new, not rebuilt, remade, or refurbished, but NEW! So when we allow that fear to hold us back from launching out into the new, we go back to the old dead things. Those things keep us stuck in the same place and then all the sudden we become upset and begin to question why. Remember this verse when that fear tries to keep you from your destiny. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7. Shout it to the rooftops and then step out in faith and DO WHAT GOD INSTRUCTED YOU TO DO!