From Staff Writer Ryan Melson:

In Ezekiel 37, God leads his prophet to a valley filled with old, dry bones. What once were people filled with vibrancy and life is now just empty puzzle pieces littering the ground below. In many ways this mirrors this generation of young people that have been written off by many in the church. While they are technologically savvy and have iPods, laptops, and cell phones at their disposal they are still dead and lifeless on the inside.

Many call these individuals “unreachable”. Whether it is the kid with the baggy jeans and skateboard or the society girls, who care more about what they wear than who they are, the modern church is often at a loss on how to share the gospel in a way that is relevant to them. We are quick to lock our car doors on the guy with tattoos and piercings while our deacons are smoking cigarettes in the church parking lot.

God knows that no one is “unreachable”. God commanded Ezekiel to speak to these dry bones and, as he obeyed, the Spirit of the Lord breathed life back into them and caused flesh to regenerate on them. Verse 10 says “They call came to life and stood up on their feet–a great army of them.”

A great army filled with the Spirit of God because one man had the courage to obey Him and speak to what was once dead and lifeless. We must be challenged to move beyond our four church walls and even our safe, sterile Christian circles to go the graveyard of society and reach out to those who have been given up for dead.

Jesus was the perfect example of this. He simultaneously spoke in the synagogues and brothels with compassion and understanding. He was chastised by the religious community for going to parties with prostitutes, thugs, and thieves. Jesus responded that He came not for the healthy, but the sick. The Great Commission says we are to go into all the world and make disciples, not to stand at our church doors and wave at them from the front steps. This will mean getting our religious hands “dirty”; taking risks and ruffling feathers. While the message of the Gospel remains unchanged, we must be challenged to use the methods and have the mindset that we will speak to this lifeless generation no matter what it may cost us.