I saw her lying on the road as I took my morning walk; the victim of a hit and run. The next morning Ms. Mockingbird’s body remained in the same place but was a little more deteriorated. Had scavengers left it alone, heat and insects would have shortly turned it into a pile of bones.
When the heart stops or too much blood is lost, life ceases. God told his people not to eat blood. You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood. Several reasons explain the prohibition: eating blood was a pagan practice, it destroyed the symbolism of sacrifice wherein an animal’s blood was substituted for a human’s and consuming blood was dangerous since many deadly diseases were transported through it.
But there’s a more important aspect of blood. Not only does it give physical life, it also provides spiritual life. Though his listeners were confused and upset when hearing it, Jesus alluded to this principle when he told them they must eat his body and drink his blood (John 6:41-58). He wasn’t suggesting something the Law forbade and didn’t expect them to literally drink his blood. He referenced a spiritual participation.
We can be physically alive but spiritually dead and it all pertains to our blood. I’ve been physically alive since August 31, 1960, but I wasn’t spiritually alive until 1969. Our first birth is important; the second is essential. Jesus’ life giving blood is received when we ask him to allow it to remove our sins. When his blood enters us we live abundantly, freely and eternally.
Whose blood is running through your veins? Yours or Christ’s?
Prayer: Thank You Lord for the eternal forgiveness and life Your blood provides.
(Photo courtesy of morguefile and greyerbaby.)
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