Dead. Dead. Dead.

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’”

-- Ezekiel 37:1-3a

Do you know what happens next?

 

God brings life back to the dried out, old bones. While Ezekiel watches, the bones move and reconnect into whole skeletons, muscle, tissue, and skin covers them, and then God breathes the breath of life back into them. 

 

Those bones—and not just any bones, dry bones… Those bones that had been sitting there for who knows how long in order to reach the state that they were in… Bones that hadn’t seen life in decades, perhaps a decade of decades (if you follow me), or even more… Those dry bones, after one Word from the mouth of God, were restored to life.

 

The great thing about this passage is that God not only acts, He interprets it for us, Himself. He tells us what the meaning of it all is. He explains that this was a message for Israel, who was currently in exile in Babylon. Although Israel was dead in many respects—the city had been destroyed, their leaders had been killed, the people had been taken away—God intended to bring them back to life. And if He could do it with those old, dry bones, why wouldn’t He be able to do it with Israel?!

 

Have you ever felt beyond repair? Have you ever been so beaten down by life that you just felt like nothing could bring you back up out of that valley of despair? Can you relate to those dry bones?

 

Do you believe that God could ever abandon you? Because He won’t!

 

Do you believe that God can give you life again? Because He can!

 

Do you believe that God can redeem you from your past? Because He will!

 

Whatever it is that brought you to the dry-bones-state, God can help you. Israel’s own sins led to their own destruction. Have you been a victim of your own poor choices? Of course, there were many in Israel who were abused, neglected, cheated, and generally mistreated. Have you been a victim of the poor choices of others? Perhaps some combination of the two? The poor choices of yourself and of others. That’s the case, more often than not.

 

Either way, it doesn’t matter. God is stronger than your struggles. God is more loving and forgiving than your stubbornness. God redeemed Israel. He brought life back to those dry bones. And He can do the same for you.

 

Jesus said:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden in light.”

-- Matthew 11:28-30

Turn to Jesus. He’ll give you life again.

 

 

 

Contradiction

Don’t ever say, “I’m sorry,” to someone and then immediately follow that with the word: “but.” Don’t do it. Just don’t. It’s wrong. If you say, “but,” after “I’m sorry,” it means that you’re taking back the “I’m sorry.” You cancel it out. Because the truth is that if you’re really sorry about something, then there is no “but.”

 

“But” is used to signal a departure, an opposite, a contradiction, an instead … it places two ideas in contradiction to each other. If you’re sorry, then there shouldn’t be any contradiction to that.  That doesn’t mean that there may not be an explanation (Notice that I didn’t say an excuse. Explanation and excuse are not the same thing. The first can often be very helpful. The second almost never is.). If you want to offer an explanation after your apology, just choose your words wisely.

 

Consider the following, and how you would feel if someone said this to you:

“I’m really sorry that I hurt your feelings, but I didn’t mean to.”
 

Translation:

“It stinks that my words/actions hurt your feelings but it was obviously your own fault because that wasn’t my intention.”
 

How about this instead, and notice that it’s only a tiny difference in wording, but makes a huge difference in meaning:

“I’m really  sorry that I hurt your feelings. I didn’t mean to.”
 

Did you see the difference? 

 

If you did something wrong—if you didn’t take someone’s feelings into consideration, if you were just flat out out of line about something, whatever the case may be—apologize. If they’re willing to listen, go ahead and offer an explanation. Just skip that one tiny word that would cancel it all out.

 

As far as I’m concerned, I (Aimee) think that we should all do a little more apologizing now and then. Take ownership of your words and actions. If you make a mistake, do right by those you’ve wronged. Admit your mistake and seek reconciliation. It’s what Jesus would do (except, of course, that He’s perfect and wouldn’t mess up in the first place, but you know what I mean). Reconciliation is very biblical.

 

“… if you are offering your gift at the altar and there
remember that your brother has something against you,

leave your gift there in front of the altar.

First go and be reconciled to your brother;

then come and offer your gift.”

Matthew 5:23-24

 

Time Flies

July came and went in the blink of an eye. Well, it did for me (Aimee) anyway. What about you? Is this summer flying by faster than you ever imagined time could fly?

What have you done with your time? Have you spent it with God?

Have you spent time in prayer?

Have you spent time in worship more than just on Sunday morning?

Have you spent time sharing God's love with others?

Have you spent time telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ?

Or have you just spent your summer playing and hanging out with friends?

Or so busy with summer school and/or with work that you haven't thought about anything except getting through one day at a time?

Or sitting around at home feeling bored?

How many times do you think that God has thought about you this summer?

When you think of that, how do you think you will move forward and spend your time now?