Can Dead Bones Live?
Skeletons Trying to Warm Themselves by James Ensor
"Son of man, can these bones live?" Ezekiel 37:3
What a picture we have here of skeletons trying to keep warm! They have the appearance of being alive but they are dead. Their colorful clothing helps them appear to be alive and covers their skeleton. The glow of the stove is the central draw. Two men stand up close to get some benefit from the heat while one stands at a distance looking on but receiving no benefit. One skeleton just lays on the floor under a blanket already shriveled. All the other skeletons are scattered in the room without their bodies. A few heads are whole but at least two are now only partial. They are disintegrating in death. The room is drab and worn with the only real life being the glow of the fire.
Without the life of God within us we are like these skeletons. We may have the appearance of life with our colorful clothing but we are dead. We may be drawn to the life and warmth of God and his people symbolized by the fire, but without any inside spiritual life to absorb the heat we receive no benefit. We walk like ghosts trying to have fellowship and keep warm (find satisfaction) but it can't happen. We are people disintegrating from the inside out. We are unable to accept light and heat because we are empty inside and we are unable to give life and warmth because we are spiritually dead.
The prophet Ezekiel once walked upon a similar scene. He was led by God into a valley full of dry bones and then asked the question, "Can these bones live?" There was only one way these dead skeletons were ever going to come alive. They had to have God's Spirit -- His Holy Spirit breathed into them. When God did that, they came alive.
God is in the business of raising the dead. Are you dying or dead already? Stop pretending to be alive. Ask God to breathe His life -- His very Spirit into you. Only then will you live.