Blood Donor.

For many years - after a late start - I was a blood donor. Indeed, I have a certificate thanking me for the 85 donations that I made. Regrettably, a time came when I was no longer permitted to donate - it was the age factor! With my late mother having received a number of units of blood at one time, and a cousin who was more like a sister to me, having also received a great deal of blood whilst fighting a (sadly ineffective) battle against leukemia, I wanted to give back what they had received - and just kept giving!

However, I thought of my "blood-giving" days when I came across an Indian female quartet that I had not heard before. They are called "The Jubalites", and I liked their singing. I also liked the tee-shirt that one of them was wearing for one song. It was black with, in large white lettering, the information: "A Blood Donor saved my life"!

I knew that my blood donations would have helped save some lives - I read that as little as a teaspoonful of whole blood could save the life of an infant! - but I knew that this particular young woman was not referring to any human blood donor, but to the Lord Jesus, the Christ. The cross that was also displayed on the tee-shirt was a bit of a giveaway!

Of course, there is an immeasurable difference between my blood, and the blood of the Saviour! My blood only helps someone with a physical need. It is something that only a relatively small percentage of people are ever likely to need. His blood deals with the problem that is common to all of humanity, the problem of sin.

It is John who, perhaps, makes this most clear when he writes: "... if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (I John 1:7; emphasis added). Please read that again, and slow down when you come to the words that I have emboldened. Do you realise the amazing truth that is being proclaimed? I knew, from a fairly early age, that the Lord Jesus "... Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree," (I Peter 2:24), but that, I had believed, covered sins already committed. When I realised that my salvation was much, much, more than that, I was astounded - and, I must say, relieved!

You see, "all" means exactly that! I checked the Greek - the word "pasées" is defined as "all, any, every, the whole." You can immediately see how much is excluded - nothing, i.e. no thing! So, the blood of the Lord Jesus is so efficacious that it covers, not only my past sins, but also every sin that I shall ever commit during the rest of my life! If that doesn't blow your mind, then I don't know what would!

What an assurance - and how much I need it. You see, even although I have been saved, I am still a sinner. Indeed, John goes on to say: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (I John 1:8). Note there, if you will, who it is that we deceive if we make such a claim - not our families; not our friends; not our work colleagues, or leisure companions; certainly not Father God! No, the only person who is taken in by such a claim is the one who makes it!

I have just started reading (yet again!) the Letter to Hebrew (Jewish) disciples of Jesus for my personal devotions. One commentator states: "When God saves a sinner, He breaks the power of the indwelling sinful nature at the moment the sinner places his faith in the Lord Jesus (Romans 6).When that believer dies, he loses the sinful nature and, in his glorified body, has only the divine nature." (Kenneth S. Wuest; Hebrews in the Greek New Testament, p.40). So, until I leave this mortal body, I am prone to sin - and I do.

However, because of the shed blood of the Saviour, I am already justified* - that is to say, God the Father treats me "just-as-if-I'd" never sinned; I am being sanctified* - that is to say, God the Holy Spirit is working in me (poor material 'though I am!), making me, little by little, more like Jesus; and I will be glorified - that is to say that, when I meet Him face-to-face, I shall be sinless, in my new resurrection body, that is beyond my finite mind to even imagine!

Do you have such a future to anticipate? Oh, I know that you are not good enough! That's okay. Not one of us is, for "... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Rom 3:23). And there's that little word "all" again - absolutely no exceptions. But Paul continues: "... they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, Whom God put forward as an expiation by His blood, to be received by faith." (Rom 3:24-25; emphasis added). 

I suspect that many who read this blog are regular blood donors in their own countries. Well done! There may even by some who have been the recipients of such blood, and who are ever grateful to those who provided it. But please remember, only the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses you, and me, from all of our sin. Only when we are cleansed may we enter the presence of Father God. Only those who enter that holy presence, in the name of, and covered (metaphorically) with the blood and righteousness of, Jesus, will spend eternity* (timelessness, not "endless time"!) in His presence.

Have you taken advantage of the blood?!

* These words are dealt with, more fully, in my first book: "Words of the Faith". Remember that I receive no financial benefit when you purchase any of my books, as all royalties are paid, directly, to Release International, in support of the persecuted church.