March 23rd am Spurgeon Devotional: Great Drops of Blood.
Read at 6ish before going into surgery with my good friend Breck Bolton and Christine.
The mental pressure from our Lord's agony forced the pores of His body to sweat great drops of blood. What a tremendous weight of sin crushed the Savior! What a demonstration of the mighty power of His love."
Isaac Ambrose observed that the sap which flows from the uncut tree is always the best. This precious tree yielded sweet spices when it was wounded by whips and pierced by nails. But it produced it's finest spices preceding that, when there was no whip, no nail, no physical wound.
Christ suffered willingly. Without being lanced His blood flowed freely. No need for a surgeon to use a scalpel; His blood flowed spontaneously. No need for Moses to cry, "Spring up, O well" (Numbers 21:17). Of itself His blood flows in crimson torrents.
When people suffer greatly, apparently the blood rushes to their heart. Their face becomes pale and frequently they faint. the blood has gone inward as if to nourish the inner being. but look at our Savior. He is so utterly oblivious of self, that instead of His agony driving His blood to His heart to nourish Himself, it flows outward to minister to us. the agony of Christ, as His blood is poured out on the ground, pictures the fullness of the offering He made for us.
Can you perceive the intensity of His suffering? will you hear its voice as it speaks? "You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin" (Hebrews 12:4). Let the great Apostle and High Priest be our example. Sweat blood if you have to, rather than yield to the great temper of you soul. "
I had to share a little of what came to my mind about Spurgeons words and my experience at the hospital today for this blog entry on March 23rd. So here goes: blood....hmmm.... I'm reminded of a couple of pre-op "happenings" today - 1.the nurse putting in my IV this morning missed numerous times leaving blood all over my left hand... 2. then the next nurse did get the IV in on the right hand and a couple of other medical procedures completed, but not without, in her words, "making a real big mess that had blood all over my right hand and arm." 3. of course during the surgery there was blood all over the doctors and nurses and the tools they were using to fix me up. 4. Tonight, the evening of the surgery, as I reread the devotional I have a bag of blood that hangs over my right shoulder right now collecting the blood which is connected to the tube that is located in the right side of my neck where the surgery took place earlier this morning. Blood is critical to sustaining life. When i got pricked and poked before the surgery the blood came out of my skin and made a mess. It didn't hurt, but if that bleeding had continued for a long time I would lose too much blood and death would follow. In my case the nurses easily took care of business and a small mess on my arms and gown was the only issue. In surgery, well that was quite the procedure. The cutting out of the very large lymph nodes in my neck caused lots of bleeding. But the doctors and nurses managed the blood loss well and my life was never in danger.
Jesus loved you and me so much he literally spilled his blood, without being numbed or knocked out with "sleep" medicine for the forgiveness of our sins. Not his sins but for our sins! Yours and mine! He suffered this blood loss so that we might have a personal relationship with our HOLY HOLY HOLY Heavenly Father. This in turns enables us to have eternal life, so that we could be participants in the the GREATEST Celebration (party) ever.....what an INCREDIBLE COST that was for Jesus to pay. My blood was spilled so that I would be made physically better. Jesus blood was spilled to for the sake of others. That's real love!
If you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior today recognize the cost of GREAT DROPS of BLOOD spilled for you so that you might find the forgiveness of ALL your sins, true joy, life abundantly and genuine purpose to real life living today. Secondly, if you have such a relationship with Christ, think of having a bag of Christ blood slung over your right shoulder everyday as a reminder of Christ blood spilled for our well being. Let's remember the cost Jesus paid for our sins, for our lives, by living our lives in such a way that in everything we do and everywhere we go we will live as His wittness to what He has done for us.
A reality of the greatest truth from the Word of God..we are WASHED in the BLOOD Of JESUS..the redemption of mankind is found in the GREAT Drops of Blood spilled from Jesus Christ body for the atonement of our sins so that we might live out His righteousness and share this good news with others so that EVERYONE (regardless of past sins committed, race, gender, age, physical or mental state, or position in this world) who embraces this truth might have life everlasting. If you love Jesus, think of these GREAT Drops of blood daily so that you will be reminded of the cost that took place for our Spiritual freedom.....then..... with a grateful heart that pounds with passion, zeal, and compassion for HIS Kingdom purposes serve others. Serve those who are hopeless, lonely, and searching for fulfillment and significance in this life. Tell them in all humility and gentleness of spirit, of Jesus who spilled his blood for them so that they may live a purposeful life with great meaning & fulfillment.
To God and God alone be the Glory. I count it a PRIVIlege unlike any other to serve the Kingdom of God and His purposes on this earth. Thank You Jesus for all that you have done for me...it's simply amazing. I'm so GRATEFUL for the GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD you spilled on my behalf.
the Glory of the Impossible.
brian
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