Do You Need A Blood Transfusion?

I now serve the good news because God gave me his grace. His power is at work in me (Ephesians 3:7 NIRV).

Paul establishes a clear connection between his service to God and the grace God gave him.  He concludes the thought with the statement that God’s power is at work in him to actually do the work God called him to do.

This verse highlights an attribute of grace that is often overlooked – its ability to instruct the saint of God to do right.  In fact, we find in Titus 2:

God's saving grace has appeared to all people.  It teaches us to say no to godless ways and sinful longings. We must control ourselves. We must do what is right. We must lead godly lives in today's world.

It makes sense all the more when you consider that we are not saved from hell, but from sin.  And that’s not just a matter of semantics. What happened in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve affected the course of all of mankind.  When they became separated from God through sin, they passed that fate to every human being afterwards.  The Bible says this about the Fall:

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous (Romans 5:18-19 NKJV).

So like the worst kind of hereditary gene, sin sits as a time bomb, slowly deteriorating our life while we are here on earth, and waiting to be triggered by death to claim us completely.  And there is only one possible cure from the deadly disease of sin – a blood transfusion.  And that blood had to come from someone who was not separated from God, which was Christ Jesus. 

Jesus did not die to save us from hell, but to cure us from sin because Hell is the eternal destination for those who have never received the cure. Without the cure, we die still separated from God and any place devoid of God is Hell. 

While still on earth, we have a window of opportunity in which to decide if we choose to be separated or joined to God.   When we accept the gift of God’s grace, poured out through the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf to right the wrong and cure the disease of sin, we enter a new life, one joined eternally to God, and one that is empowered by grace to teach us the culture of Heaven.

Today, I will celebrate God’s grace in my life and be thankful for the many ways in which God’s grace has changed the course of my path from destruction and damnation to a hope and future in Christ.