Nothing But the Blood

We’ve been letting the kids pick our songs for family devotions this week. Six year old Colin loves “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Little Cal frequently chooses “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”

One morning as we were singing these surprisingly upbeat songs one of the boys started retching. He was imagining an actual fountain, like the one downtown on the square, filled to overflowing with blood. As he thought about swimming in that giant fountain of blood, it made him feel sick.

My first reaction was to chastise him for being disrespectful during worship and to tell him not to think about it so literally. My husband had a different response. He encouraged the children to reflect on Jesus’ death, and to remember that His blood was spilled to pay for every sin that they commit. That fountain of blood was drawn from Jesus’ veins to purchase their salvation, but it is only effectual for them if they are washed in it.

So often we try to gloss over the gruesome events of Jesus’ death with our children, focusing only on the Resurrection. We do it to “protect” them.

Those who came before us in the faith were not so squeamish. They rightly understood that without the shedding of Christ’s blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22

 

Comments

  1. Amen!

    Just last week we began a new after-dinner book together, “The Complete Book of Christian Heroes: Over 200 Stories of Courageous People Who Suffered for Christ.” I’ve had to “rephrase” a few of the details, but it is still entirely encouraging nonetheless.

    Jesus is REAL. His blood is REAL. Our salvation is REAL.

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