ARISE AND DEPART

“Arise you and depart;

for this is not your rest;

because it is polluted,

it shall destroy you,

even with a sore destruction.”

Micah 2:10

How many times has God ordered human beings to arise and depart? It is a wakeup call.

Lazarus was lying in his grave and when he heard Jesus Christ’s voice, He was arisen from his tomb. God’s order is to get away from the graves, which means a sinful life,  because He has prepared Heaven for us. A Grave symbolizes sinful life.

God’s demand for us is to move toward Him, to do the work of faith towards life and light.

Today there are millions of Lazarus’ laying in their graves of lies, hatred, laziness, hopelessness, grudge, and pride. The Lord is commanding them to open the door of their heart for Him to enter; because the Lord brings peace and comfort.

What the Lord is telling us, is that our heart is polluted; therefore He needs to enter it to cleanse it, and make it the place of Divinity. But as we know some of us live within spiritual pollution and it has become a habit to live in that way. That place becomes a swamp.

This is the reason that the Lord demands from us to depart from such places. Walk away from the dark toward the light, and become refreshed.

Again, spiritually, God has prepared wings for us to fly; but we are still crawling in sin.

For those who do not choose to change their lifestyle, because they are used to it, and they say it is comfortable, it is their home, and it is the way they live, As Lot was living in Sodom and Gomorra was thinking in that same way.

But by the Lord’s command, he left his town because it was morally polluted. He heard God’s order, “Go away from sin, and don’t look back.” Lot’s wife regretfully looked back and became a pillar of salt, as the Bible tells us. She was punished because of her “looking back, ”with her regret to go back to her sinful life, sinful place, sinful friends, sinful habits.

We, as Christians, are called to go out from our sinful life and to depart from it to follow Jesus Christ. Rise, take your cross, and go forward to prepare your Heavenly path. The calling is referred to as ~perfection. Even if we remain in the same clean place, it will become polluted again, if, we are not continuously transitioning and changing for the better. We need to be self-examining and to repent in order to do the work of faith. Christianity is a constant moving faith.

While we are alive, this is the time, as we are hearing the calling from Heaven, arise and depart and leave your old self behind, leave bad habits and move forward to become a new revived self.

Nobody’s perfect. We all have bad habits we all need to change something. Alcohol has a hold on some people; others can’t say no to weed, some spend more time on multiplying there wealth and less on spending time with Jesus, some can’t forgive and let go, others fall into traps of selfishness, many are stuck in the past, and can’t move ahead, they are like kip reading the same page of the book. Jesus today calls us saying turn the page.

Change is difficult. You can’t do it by yourself, Allow Jesus to lead.

Like people who are addicted to alcohol, gambling, cigarettes, food, the same way we are addicted to gossip, to revenge, jealousy, pried which is even worse.

Let us talk about one of the sinful habits-

People are hooked on to worry, control, micromanagement, and doubt. Learn to resist these temptations. You do not have to be in charge, or be noticed, or be praised by everybody, every time, everywhere, you do not have to be first, in control, instead, let go, humble yourself and allow new opportunities to come your way.

When Jesus is in control of a life,- things will come naturally and with new perspectives. Replace your anger, your jealousy, your hatred, with positive emotions,….

Let God direct you away from them.

Embrace the unknown, fresh, and new events in your life. Two days ago I was talking with my friends about life’s limits. Growing up we learned to establish and accept certain limits.

You say to help homeless people, this is my limit, no more no less. To give for charity, this is my limit. To forgive gossipers, this is my limit I will not tolerate any more. When learning new things, new dance, you say, this is my limit, I can’t do better. That is not right. Allow God to reveal to you what you can really do and accomplish.

And show you who you really are.

Embrace the unknown. You are limitless. You can do everything with Lords guidance. God lives in the unknown, and when you embrace it fully, you will find the real you.

You still have time. You are alive.

Here is a story:

One of my clergy friends was sharing this story with me.

After the holidays, he went to a gas station and saw the line at the pump was very long. As he was determined, he got in line. A worker noticed his priest’s collar and approached him. He apologized that he had to wait in line, by saying, “Sorry that you have to wait in line with the rest of the people. It seems that all these people waited until the last minute to prepare for their trip ”The priest answered, “Don’t worry, it is the same way in my business. ”The attendant asked, “Why, what business are you in? ”He replied, “I am a priest.”

Dear faithful, we wait until we are old and sick before we start preparing for our Heavenly life. As Jesus Christ advised, do not wait, when you are young and energetic, that is the day to get up, to walk and to work toward your unpolluted spiritual life.

Toward the unknown.

Amen.