Elisha died and was buried.

Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet. – 2 Kings 13:20-21 (NIV)

I don’t know what it would be like to be so immersed in the love of and life of God that your bones could raise the dead, but it is something to shoot for.  How awesome is it that your remains, the evidence of death, mean life for someone else?  I want a bone-deep love for God.  I want the life of God to sink into the marrow and make me wholly His.  Do I think that someday my bones will bring someone to life?  I will leave that to the perfect judgment of God, but I do think that the “bones” of my life can count for something even after I am gone.

The “bones” of my life are the things that don’t decay after death.  The time spent with others, the actions done in God’s service, the words left in the ear or on the page the changed a mind or heart – these are the bones.  If our time and talent are immersed in God’s will and Word, they will become treasures to those we leave behind.  If they are not, we can suffer from a sort of spiritual osteoporosis that takes the firmness out of who we are and how we are remembered.  Even today, the bones of Elisha’s life are bringing life to others and that possibility exists for us.

Our children need to be taught how to love God with a love that is bone deep and provides structure and strength to their actions and words.  They need to see that love at work in us and experience what it looks like in practice.  Our lives need to be steeped in the presence and power of God until it sinks into the deepest parts of us and we need to take our children with us.

Lord, help me to live a life of depth and meaning with and through You.  May I and my children be pierced to the bone by Your love and transformed by it.  Bless us with lives that will touch the lives of others for Your glory even when we have gone to be with You forever. Amen.