The Blood Still Works.

A few days ago I was going to bed and, suddenly, this feeling of condemnation struck me. I started to remember all the TERRIBLE things I’ve done and how often I mess up….all the times I lied, all the times I had a really bad attitude, all the times I was disobedient, and all the times I let my mouth get the best of me.

On any given day I can be a WHOLE struggle-mess and how do I know that God has truly forgiven me for the stuff I did and will forgive me for the stuff I will do?

I couldn’t sleep AT ALL. I laid in my bed, I looked up at the ceiling and, as clear as day, I heard, “The blood still works.”

Now, if you’re a church kid, like myself, then you’ve heard this phrase ten thousand times. We sing it and we quote it, but do we really, truly know what that means?

In the pre-Jesus days, people would use the blood of animals as a repayment for their sins. Hebrews talks about people sprinkling the blood of goats and calves to “cleanse the body from sins.” It was a held tenant that “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.” Humans are naturally a mess and, as such, they had to sacrifice animals over and over and over again.

In walks Jesus. *cue the superhero theme music*

Jesus came and completely changed the game. He lived perfectly and ended his earthly life as a PERFECT lamb. His last words were “It is finished.” With SUCH a perfect sacrifice, there wasn’t a need for anything else. Hebrews 9 tells us that he didn’t have to die AGAIN and AGAIN. In fact, the latter part of verse 26 says, “He came once and for all, at the end of the age, to put away the power of sin forever by dying for us.”

We don’t have to operate in the spirit of condemnation because, INDEED, the blood of Jesus STILLLLL works. Don’t underestimate His power. When he said “It is finished,” he meant it.

…and how amazing is it that we didn’t…and still DON’T….have anything to do with our salvation. Romans tells us that our salvation does not depend on keeping the law, but on receiving God’s grace. We did not save ourselves and THANKS to the blood of Jesus, we don’t have to ever worry about saving ourselves. Now, that doesn’t give us a pass to deliberately go sin and not worry about it, but how comforting it is to know that the blood of Jesus still is…and will forever be....enough.

One of my FAVORITE moments in scripture is when Paul makes a bold sentiment, something that I encourage EVERYONE to remember when faced with feelings of condemnation, shame, embarrassment or anything else.

Paul says, “For I am convinced that NOTHING can EVER separate us from His love. Death can’t, life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of Hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow or where we are–high above the sky or in the deepest ocean–nothing will EVER be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I just got REALLY excited typing that.

The devil will use condemnation and shame as a tool to distract you and make you feel as though God doesn’t love you or you are a terrible person because you aren’t deserving of the love God gives. The truth of the matter is….on your own….you are terrible. You're a WHOLE mess and you don’t deserve it, but that’s the beautiful essence of grace. DESPITE ALLLLLLLL of your issues…God loves you and his blood still works.

Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. There’s always grace….for everything. Even the things we don’t believe God is capable of forgiven…he will. More importantly, he has. If you declare and believe in your heart that Jesus is your risen savior, then you will be saved. That’s scripture! If you’re in Christ, you’re a new creature.

It’s finished, boo! You’re covered. Walk in that grace.