What God Has to Keep Reminding Me
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”
Leviticus 17:11
One of my very favorite classes in college was Formal Logic. If “P”, then “Q”. I loved it. I would work on advanced problems for entire weekends. There was only ONE assignment that I can remember that I could not finish. It drove me nuts. I still made an “A” in that class, though! By contrast, I made a “D” in Conversational French. I couldn’t understand a single word the professor was saying – in French or English. The point is that I need things to make sense before I can really do anything with it. If they don’t make sense but my interest is piqued, I’m going to dig until they do make sense – or at least close to making sense. For the record, I did not continue my pursuit of the French language. Au revoir, Français!
I totally understand the sacrifice parallel from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Unblemished animals sacrificed – unblemished man sacrificed. I mean, Jesus is called “The Lamb of God”, so it’s pretty obvious. But knowing something and realizing something are two different things. It’s like someone who can spout off historic dates….1095 was the first Crusade, 1453 was the fall of Constantinople, 1803 was the Louisiana Purchase.
It’s not just a cleansing…It’s more like a blood transfusion…Blood is life.
Knowing a fact is not the same as understanding the context of an event or why it happened. Who bought Louisiana? From whom? For how much? And why? A simple date doesn’t give you all that.
I know Peyton Manning won his first Super Bowl against the New Orleans Saints. But doesn’t it add more depth, texture, and color to know he did it during a torrential downpour on a muddy field? You understand the whole event better with that information, not just the naked facts or stats.
The thing I never really understood about Christ’s death at the depth it deserved was this: Why did it have to be so bloody?
As I have spiritually matured, I understand it more deeply now. Kind of like Peyton’s first Super Bowl win, I’ve always known the result. We’ve all heard the phrase “washed in the blood of Jesus”. I heard that and parroted that my whole life, but the closer I get to Jesus as I age, I understand it as something more complete than just a cleansing.
It’s more like a blood transfusion.
It’s not just washing away my past sins and transgressions, it’s reprogramming my heart and mind for future thoughts and actions.
Blood is life.
Hebrews 9:14 tells us that the blood of Christ cleanses our conscience from dead works so we can serve the living God. God always required pure blood to atone for sin. He gave us His Son as the “once and for all” unblemished sacrificial Lamb.
I can honestly say that I have never wanted to be bad or do bad things, but of course I have done them. I mean – so-and-so was trifling, so I had to come correct very verbally; or that person spiked my shin when I slid into second base, so I wanted to smack the bully out of her; or “ha ha, you didn’t make the Top Ten, you pompous brat!” Of course I have behaved badly. I’ve been a whole human my entire life! Plus, I’m 55 and have had a lot of opportunities to do bad things. But I have always been washed in the blood of Jesus. I’ve always known my sins were forgiven, but that just gets me back to zero – back to acceptable.
The understanding I have now, though, is that the blood He shed is flowing through me as new life. The washing changes my past, but the transfusion changes my future. Being washed in His blood erases the stain of sin, but being transformed and transfused with His life makes me want to do better than zero. Because I am forgiven, I want to live differently. I want my life to have a positive impact, not a neutral one, and certainly not a negative one.
That’s why his death had to be so bloody. The blood was shed so it could flow from Him into us and give us new life – so we could be more than zero.
Prayer for Daily Renewal
Lord, remind me that I am not just forgiven, but that I am also transformed. Give me inspiration to be better than zero. Keep me walking as one redeemed.
Did you miss last month’s Still Waters? Read it here: Jesus Carried Our Cross