37 Vials
Last week, I had an initial consultation with the Emory Lung Transplantation Center. They told me I needed to be sicker to get a lung transplant. Go figure.
But to access my overall health and to identify donor organs that might be a match for me, they needed a little blood work. When the phlebotomist finished lining up the vials, there were 37 of them. I almost fainted just looking at the tray!
“Mr. Campbell, when this blood work is done, we’ll know everything about you. We’ll know your social history…what you eat, drink, smoke or chew. The labs don’t lie.”
As I sat there, it hit me how this is like meeting Jesus. He’s going to know ‘everything about me’ when I show up there. It’s all been recorded. No questions. No appeals.
What’s cool is that heaven’s lab switches all the blood samples. Whatever was recorded in my blood becomes irrelevant because God switched my blood for His Son’s. The lab report will come back spotless. A sinless ‘social history’. Perfection to the point that I can be connected to a Perfect, Holy God. A God that I can be connected to only because of Jesus’ sinless perfection. Jesus’ blood work, not mine.
We have no concept of how huge this is. How amazing this Grace.
Later on, a very intelligent and affable doctor came in and explained how that blood work can reveal a match to donated organs. “Your blood samples enable us to connect you to compatible donors and potentially save your life” he said.
That’s exactly what God has in mind when He connects us to other Christ-followers in community. Because of Jesus’ blood, we have compatibility with everyone God has saved. Everyone He’s switched Jesus’ blood for. We are all connected by this common blood thing. This amazing switch-out. Wouldn’t it be cool if we all chose to be grateful instead of critical?
One of the tough things about transplantation is the psychological dimension. You live because someone else died. You have breath because someone else lost their ability to breathe. Without faith in a sovereign God, it’d be tough to sleep at night breathing with the lungs of someone’s deceased husband or daddy. But as God’s children, alive because of the death of His only Son, we’ve already grasped the concept of gratitude. We truly live because of His willingness to die. Not an accidental death, but an intentional, voluntary, purposeful death that enables us to live full and free, now and forever.
Our faith is certainly personal. Some even say it should stay private. But this experience has given me an object lesson in the blood of Jesus that’s as personal as it can get.
Question: Aren’t you grateful God switched your blood work? Isn’t it great to ‘do life’ with others who appreciate what He’s done for us? Share your thoughts here.
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Responses (1)
I was at a funeral the other day and we all sang the song “Amazing Grace” and I was struck by the verse
how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed
You were reminded of this when they took the blood and now you reminded me, again, just how amazing it is to be given God’s gift of grace.
love you, charliep