Diluting the Blood

A few months ago my husband Neal attempted to donate blood. His offer was rejected, however, because of several bouts of malaria he’d had when working in Africa. As for me, I am less willing to face needles, and flee anything remotely smelling medicinal. But on one occasion I had no choice and received a blood transfusion. As I watched the red globules drip into my veins, I hoped and prayed it was untainted.

I pondered the blood of Jesus. We sing about its power:

Would you be free from your burden of sin?

There’s power in the blood, power in the blood.

Would you o’er evil a victory win?

There’s wonderful power in the blood.

This is the blood that paid for our redemption (Acts 20:28), overcame Satan (Revelation 5:9), and made us a holy people (1 Peter 2:9-10).

This blood of our Redeemer can amazingly wash our garments white as snow. And yet, Jesus, the rider on the white horse of Revelation, is “dressed in a robe dipped in blood.” God takes the horror of the cross and transforms it into beauty and power. John Wesley wrote a song about it:

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress;

Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.

In remembrance of Jesus’ great sacrifice, we are even asked to symbolically drink of that blood.

Another contemporary song says that even a very tiny drop of Jesus’ blood is so potent that it can wipe out the sin of the whole world.

I wonder, though, if it is somehow possible, on our part, to dilute the power available to us through His blood. Why are we not seeing God’s hand move mightily in our private battles? Can it be that we have diluted the power through:

• squandering our money on the gotta-have-its
• treating ourselves to dainty morsels at high-priced restaurants when our fridge is loaded with food close to spoiling
• devouring books that provide another “way of escape”
• reading magazines that cause us to covet and become dissatisfied
• watching videos that help “conform us to the pattern of this world”
• craving for entertainment and becoming “lovers of pleasure”
• spreading ourselves too thin in busyness and feeding our passion to be wanted and needed?

I have been guilty of all of these!

I pray God will help me be careful not to dilute the power of His blood in my life. As William Cowper put it,

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins,

and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

Jesus our King, a “blue blood,” has offered his untainted blood to infuse us with healing and strength. May we receive, gladly, and with confidence, the power of His precious blood.