Breathe. Just Breathe...

 

Breathe, Just Breathe…

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”

So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. (Ezekiel 37:4-10 (NLT)

Breathe: To inhale and exhale air using the lungs. To inhale air or another gas. To exhale air or another gas.

This week has been a struggle. Ain’t gonna lie.

People with asthma know how much the atmosphere and other uncontrollable variables can dictate whether you are taking deep breaths and “living your best life now” or staying tired with only small, shallow ones.

Yeah, the struggle is real.

But that pales in comparison with those who truly do not have “the breath of life” in them. 

They are the “walking dead." The ones who aimlessly wander through life - trying to find profound purpose in physical activities, accumulation of things, increased wealth, or tan lines and altered hair color. 

Yet, for all of their “pursuit of life and happiness” they do not truly live. 

They do not have the “breath of life” in them. 

They do not have God.

Like the valley of dry bones in our text from Ezekiel they are a great band of possibilities. They are a mighty army buried beneath the dirt. They are an unequaled number of people who have never experienced new life…a resurrected life. They are dead.

They do not have the breath of God.

    They do not have the Spirit of God.

        They do not have life.

And neither do you unless God places breath (Spirit) within you and consequently gives you life. “Then Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’” (John 20:22). 

Remember our asthmatic family and friends? Many have a rescue inhaler. It can save their life when their own breath stops. When they can only exhale but cannot inhale it alone can bring the necessary breath we need to live.

God certainly is not a rescue inhaler but the analogy stands. And, if you are going through life and find that you are tired and out of breath…well, we think you know where you need to draw your next one from. That rescusitating, resurrecting breath of life.

Breathe deep our friends. Breathe deep. Why? Because, the Psalmist told us: “Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD! Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150:6)

Oops! I Did it Again...and Don't Want to Do it Anymore

 

Heart to Heart from the Housewrights

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly - Proverbs 26:11

These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.” 2 Peter 2:17-22

“Well, those are not very uplifting verses,” you are probably saying to yourself right now.

And, you are right.

They are hideous. And, they remind us of who we are and what we are capable of.

So often, we love to brag on ourselves, proclaim our goodness to others, and put selfies on social media that yell, “Hey, look at me!” But, is that what we really want? Do we want people to know us - the “real” us?

In both Proverbs and Peter’s first letter, we find the truth of what we are really like. We have the proclivity, nay, the downright desire to often go back to that which traps us. That which troubles us. That which keeps us down. 

Like a dog returning to it vomit.

Every single one of us has a sin (sins) that perpetually haunt us. We miss the aim and don’t hit our target. We allow distractions. We do not stay focused. We trip and we fall.

But, thanks be unto God, we can get back up. “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts,” I John 1:8-10.

So, you’re struggling with sin. You keep messing up. You want to change but “old habits die hard” as they say.

Thank God for grace.

Thank God for mercy.

Thank God for forgiveness.

Thank God for hope.

Thank God for being a new creation.

Thank God this is a new day and you can start over…

Look. It’s not ok to sin. It’s not ok to shrug it off. It’s not ok to say, “It’s who I am. God made me this way.”

Those are not words which should ever come out of a follower of Jesus’ mouth. Sin is the very reason Jesus obeyed the Father - even to death on a Roman cross. Willingling he died - so we might die to self and sin. It’s why Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in Galatia: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there, Galatians 5:24.

We all have today. Today, let’s keep sin at bay. Give it not an inch in our lives. Let’s put the flesh in its place. After all, the very next verse in Galatians 5 has Paul declaring: Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

For the next 24 hours let us agree to say no to the flesh and yes to the spirit. Hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second…let us walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit and then - and only then - we will not fall into sin. 

“Go, and sin no more…”