Blood. Just the mention of the word causes reaction. Some of us think "oh gross" as we envision someone bleeding. Maybe you're squeamish, like me, especially when it's someone else's blood. Maybe you have a grateful yet troubled heart, because you had to receive a blood transfusion at some point in your life, and you don't know whose blood it was or if it was "good"...like I did after the birth of my first child. Or maybe you remember a favorite shirt or other piece of clothing that was ruined because of a blood stain...like me. When my oldest son was 2, he fell and bashed his face on our front porch, causing me to scoop him up and rush him to the hospital. Of course, I was covered in his blood and one of my favorite shirts was no more.
But in a recent Sunday service, we were singing the old hymn "Nothing but the Blood." There is a line in this hymn that stayed with me...Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow. That is, of course, an oxymoron unless you believe it. Blood stains things. Blood is a symbol of wounding, hurt and death. It's red, dark, and warm. There is nothing white about it. We go to the store to buy special cleaning products to remove "stubborn stains like blood." We don't want to see blood. How many of you turn away or cover your eyes when watching a show or movie with a particularly realistic scene? My hand is raised.
But this simple line of the song declares that it is blood that makes me white...white as snow. Fresh snow is blindingly white and clean. The blood shed by Jesus Christ flowed, and instead of being stained, I am made clean - like freshly fallen snow. The blood itself is the purifier. It is the remedy for all the other stains our lives will ever bear. It is the answer for all the questions we will ever have. It's not sold in stores, and you can't buy it online or at ebay. It's a free gift.That is what makes it precious. If we just accept it, we will not be stained - we will be free.
