Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:38-40
For any child of God with the privilege of knowing Jesus Christ, that all things are possible with Him, our knowledge, skill or relationships with fellow man should not be the prime determinants of our progress in life. Despite this knowledge, we live amongst people who are not like minded and may have ways which are selfish, traditionally engrained, oppressive, negative and driven mainly by earthly wisdom. Jesus says, “Take away the stone” to see the glory of God which is creativity and restoration. You can only take away the stone by changing attitudes. First, you must be prepared to change from Selfish desires to one that is Selfless.Take a moment to reflect on your actions. Have you taken what is not yours because of your might or position? If yes, then restore it to the rightful owner. When David recovered all that was taken from Ziklag, he gave back what was not his and shared equally the gains amongst all the people. (1 Samuel 30)
Second, you must replace all your Traditional beliefs by the Truth of the gospel. Saul was heavily engrained in tradition, however when he met Christ on the road to Damascus he changed from his traditional belief and followed the truth of the gospel. (Acts 9) Third, instead of being Oppressive to people you must resolve to be Obedient to the word of God. Again this is exemplified by Paul. Forth, you must desire to Nurture the good out of every situation rather than seeing the Negatives and finally you must seek Eternal wisdom instead of Earthly wisdom. The forth and fifth points are seen in the life of Paul when they sailed from Crete even though he knew the danger ahead and the captain did not listen to his advice he still sought the face of God in the time of hardship and saved the lives of all who were on the boat. He therefore nurtured the good out of the bad situation by using divine wisdom. Selfishness, Traditions, Oppression, Negativity and Earthly wisdom are OBSTRUCTIVE ATTITUDES that hinder progress and creativity.
As you take away this stone and put on the S.T.O.N.E. of CONSTRUCTIVE ATTITUDES of Selflessness, Truth, Obedience, Nurturing, and Eternal wisdom, people will marvel and see the glory of God. This glory will be the grace to be creative with the ability to restore “dead projects” just as Lazarus was brought back to life from the dead and Christ rose from the dead (Matthew 28:2) Like Apostle Paul, whom the people at Malta thought was god and changed their minds about him, so will people see God’s glory in your life and change their minds about you. They will indeed, seek to know God. As you resolve to roll away the stone of obstruction and put on the stone of construction may the Lord uphold you and strengthen you. May you come out of the “tomb” and pursue purpose that brings glory to God. Amen.
Dr Rex
