Cleansing Blood
Blood….clean? Most of the time when these two words are mentioned, it is done in the context of being opposites. “Clean up that blood” or “That’s a bloody mess”. Can blood be made clean?Spiritually, we know the answer is yes. This is the reason we recognize this day, Good Friday as the day Jesus shed his blood as a pure sacrifice for our sins. If it were only a death, there would be no reason to celebrate. That is why we, as followers of Jesus, look toward the true day to celebrate. The day we celebrate as Easter, Resurrection Day.
It is Semana Santa (Holy Week) here in Guatemala, a country steeped in false religion. Although the streets display a carnival atmosphere, there is a darkness that hovers. The focus remains on the death. People pay their penance to carry extremely heavy floats depicting the torture and death of Jesus. They struggle to understand that the solution was given by his Resurrection.
It is also interesting that God has revealed a deeper understanding of His blood to us this week. We have been caring for one of our young ladies for the past two weeks. She arrived from Africa with cerebral malaria, the most severe strain of Malaria that exists. Her blood was the worst they had ever seen here. We have taken every step possible to humanly care for her, even giving of our own blood and platelets. We weren’t sure it would even work. It was in the darkest hours, God brought to mind Scripture that had been planted in my heart.
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer
Oh the prayers that have gone up for her! Prayers by the hundreds, even thousands. God opened my eyes to an understanding that He was in control of her life, not us. Every single part. Even the very blood that we were giving was not of our own. As our Creator, it was given to us by Him.
Many times over these days, our ministry team has discussed what it would possibly be like to go through this time without the hope given to us by Jesus.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Do not to lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Today we celebrate that our girl is recovering and has had her blood cleansed. Because we donated our blood? Partially. But I will never forget that our human blood was given by a divine, supernatural God that deeply cares for His children. He gave His life and shed his blood to save the world. Without him, we wouldn’t exist.
Acts 17:28 In Him, we live, move, and have our being.
CELEBRATE THIS WEEKEND. HIS BLOOD HAS MADE YOU CLEAN.
