But for the Blood

Great is the mercy, great is the love;
Great are my many sins, but for the blood!
I'd still be drowning in death's bitter flood,
Hopelessly perishing, but for the blood!
~ sung by the Hoppers

Reared in a preacher's home, I was saved at the tender age of 10. From the womb I have been taught to love Jesus. I'm so thankful for the things from which God spared me by giving me that Godly heritage. I'm thankful for a Godly mother who taught me the Bible, enabling me to quote more than 200 Scriptures by the time I was two years old. I'm thankful for a Godly father who would slip into my bedroom at night and kneel next to my bed and pray for me.

It would be easy for me to think I was all right, that I didn't need the blood of Jesus as much as the alcoholic or drug addict on the street. Shamefully, there have been many times in my life when I had those thoughts. However the Bible makes it clear that the status and condition of my heart and life when I was born was "sinner." I still needed Jesus' blood to cover me, just as much as a murderer. I'm grateful God saved me before I had the opportunity to commit what the world would consider heinous sins, or even what the church would consider "bad," but I realize more and more that pride and hatred in my heart is on the same level as murder, and it makes me that much more thankful for Jesus' blood!

There's another Gospel song that says, "The ground is level at the foot of the cross; no man stands higher than I." And I could add that no man stands lower than I! To think so is prideful. I'm no better than anyone else.

The neat thing about accepting this fact is that I can recognize so much more vividly that the "old man IS crucifed with Him" and that I am "freed from sin" (Romans 6:6-7)! I am dead and my life is "hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). It's not I who lives but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). When I recognize that I can't live the Christian life, and that I don't have to, I can choose to yield to His "power that worketh in me" (Eph. 3:20).

This is my victory! His blood made it all a reality in my life!