Something Greater (Part 1)

(I will be posting "Something Greater" over the next four days. Here is part 1. Stay tuned for the full series!)

There must be something better!

Have you ever stumbled around in your attempt to do something, wishing there was a better, more efficient option for you to complete your task? I remember an experience that took place while I was a missionary in India. I had only been there a few weeks when I was eating a lunch with many pastors and leaders after a Bible school inauguration. In the Indian fashion, we were all eating this lunch without utensils, using only our hand. I remember sitting there, desperately trying to navigate through my meal of rice and chicken curry without looking like a complete imbecile! Unfortunately, I was not so successful in my attempt. I remember looking up to see an older lady laughing at me-everyone else in the room was smiling and trying to avoid eye contact! Finally, the hostess came up to me with a very sympathetic look on her face and asked me caringly, “Do you need a spoon?” I gratefully accepted and was then able to finish my meal in a much more confident fashion-the spoon enabled me to enter into a much greater relationship with my food!

As Christians, sometimes we live at a much lower level of spirituality than God has intended for us. He has called us to a life of righteousness, peace and joy-to a life of holiness and victory, where we are more than conquerors in every situation. And yet too often we accept a life of defeat, a life where we are victims of our circumstances rather than conquerors, a life with depression and fear and sin. There is something far greater out there for us!

So our question becomes-how do we enter into this greater life? Fortunately for us, the Bible answers that question! In Ezekiel 37, a beautiful picture is painted of how God wants to bring us in to great things. This passage of Scripture was written when God’s people, the Israelites, were captives in the land of Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision by God, and in this vision he saw a valley full of dry bones, scattered all around (Ezekiel 37:1,2). These dry bones represented the Israelites-God’s people were currently scattered, in defeat, and leading hopeless lives. What good is a dry bone? Maybe useful for a dog, but that is about it! Sometimes, we feel like those bones-tired, discarded, and forgotten.

But what was God’s reaction to these dry bones? Did He tell Ezekiel to leave them alone? Did He condemn them? No, He instructed Ezekiel to prophesy to them so that they could come to life (Ezekiel 37:4-6)! He gave a message of hope! And in His instructions to Ezekiel we can see four steps to receiving something greater from God. Four steps for us to enter the victorious, glorious life He has called us to!

1) Get Connected

Ezekiel 37:7, “So I spoke these words, 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 they had been before. ”

I like to use the Internet. When you are online, there is a huge wealth of information available to you. Your computer is communicating with other computers all around the world, enabling you to converse with friends in different zip codes (or countries!), find out the facts on a project you’re working on, or just check out the latest news! But what happens when a computer goes offline? Suddenly, that whole world is no longer available to you. When your computer disconnects, you are missing out on a lot.

Let’s go back to Ezekiel’s vision. Remember, what he first saw was a valley with dry bones lying scattered everywhere. There was a tibia here, a fibula there-craniums and metatarsals and metacarpals just lying strewn all about! What a mess! But here in step number one, Ezekiel saw all of the bones connect with each other in their proper places. The scattered bones became ordered skeletons.

Spiritually, the first step to entering into a greater life is to Get Connected. Just like a computer loses much of it’s effectiveness when it is not connected to others, a Christian has his or her vitality sapped away when not in proper connection.

Our most important connection, of course, is that with Christ. In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the Vine, you are the branches.” He is the source of all of our spiritual life, and we need to be plugged into Him. A branch cannot survive apart from its vine, and we can’t survive apart from Christ. We connect to Him through repentance, through prayer, through studying His Word, among other ways. And we don’t only want to be connected to Him in a salvation experience, but our dependence and relationship with Him should continually grow deeper and deeper. If you find that your spiritual life has stagnated, perhaps you need to make a greater effort to spend time with Jesus, the source of all spiritual life.

However, to enter into the fully victorious life God has intended for us, we do not only need to be connected to Christ, we also need to be connected with other believers. Hebrews 10:25 instructs us not to neglect meeting with one another, and it is an essential reminder, especially in today’s nonstop busy world. We should make every effort to meet with other Christians whenever we have the opportunity. Every time our youth group or church has a meeting, we should attend if at all possible. School or workplace Bible studies and prayer meetings are also an excellent source of connection. The early church in the book of Acts lived in the greatest victory the Church has ever seen, and what was one of the reasons? They spent much time together! They ate together, prayed together and met daily. May we likewise be connected today!

(Part 2 of the series is coming tomorrow. Check back!)