A friend posted a blood type chart on Facebook and commented that she can “give the gift of life” through her blood donations. By posting the chart she was trying to encourage others to also become donors. Blood donation is a noble gesture, because you are going through some pain and inconvenience for recipients you don’t know and who won’t know you. Emergency requests for blood often follow natural and man-made disasters, because the supply just isn’t enough to keep up with the demand. That causes people to give, who have never considered giving before, because they see the need.
If you have ever needed blood for a loved one, you know how important a reliable supply of blood can be. If they didn’t have the right type of blood needed, they would have to find a supply or wait for donors, so you know the anxiety of waiting. Maybe you offered to donate your blood, but discovered it was the wrong type or couldn’t be used for any number of reasons. Nothing can take the place of the right type of “life giving blood.”
The chart my friend posted showed that all blood types are not created equal. For example, AB+ blood can only go to an AB+ recipient, but an AB+ recipient can use all other types of blood. That doesn’t seem fair, but fair or not, you can’t change your blood type. On the other end of the scale, O- blood can go to any other blood type recipient, but an O- recipient can only accept O- type blood. Again, that doesn’t seem fair, but giving someone the wrong type blood could end their life. To give life, you must give patients the right blood type.
There was another life threatening situation where only the right blood would do. That blood couldn’t be found anywhere in this world so it had to be produced. Even more amazing, the donor had to sacrifice His life so His blood could give life to others. That doesn’t seem fair, but that how it had to be. The Father of the donor knew it would cost the life of His son, but He made the sacrifice so that others might be saved.
That blood came from JESUS CHRIST and was poured out on the cross for our sins. It only worked because it wasn’t contaminated by sin. Nothing but the sinless blood of JESUS would do. JESUS came from Heaven, lived a sinless life, and shed His precious blood to wash away our sins. That is the only way we could be victorious over death, Hell and the grave.
With only one donor and so many sinners, won’t the blood supply run out? No way! The blood that JESUS shed on Calvary was more than enough to wash all our sins away! Even with that endless supply of forgiveness, much of it will be left unused. Most people won’t accept the life-giving power of the blood and will die in their sins. They will have to pay for that decision, with an eternity of pain and torment, but that doesn’t have to happen to you! “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV). Accept JESUS as your LORD and SAVIOR and His blood will wash away your sins and make you whiter than snow! Only His eternal life-giving blood can do that!
Wayne Lance