Thankful for Jesus.

I always have the biggest realizations when I’m laying on my bedroom floor while listening to music. (Yes, I do it quite often.) Today, I was listening to All Sons and Daughter’s mash-up of their song Your Glory and Nothing but the Blood.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know; Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Robert Lowry wrote this hymn in 1876. I grew up singing it in church and saying those words over, and over, and over again; “nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

However, I never really let those words sink in until recently when I watched The Passion of the Christ.

If you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading this, and go Netflix it right now.

I’m not afraid of spoiling the movie for you because we all know the story. But the end shows how Jesus was hung on the cross for our sins. His wrists and feet were pierced with nails. He was whipped, mocked, and tortured for our sins. Jesus never sinned. He was perfect. In fact, one of the last things Jesus said while he was on the cross was “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

What a savior. 

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I’m convicted because of all the things I take for granted. Especially Jesus.

John 3:16. It’s everywhere. It’s on posters, bracelets, t-shirts, and on the bottom of Forever 21 bags. I even have a guitar pick with John 3:16 on the back of it. But when was the last time I really took the time to think about what it means?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God gave His only son for me. Before I was even born, He knew I was going to sin. He knew exactly what my sins would be, and what I would struggle with.

Starting in junior high, until my freshman year, I struggled with self-harm. I became so addicted to it that I needed therapy and rehabilitation in order to properly heal from it. Even when I was telling everyone I was fine and done with self-harm, I was still struggling.

But the beauty of my testimony is that Jesus died for my self-harm. He was beaten and humiliated for it. God knew that when I was in the 7th grade, I would become addicted to cutting, and He knew I would struggle with it until I was a freshman in high school. He wanted a relationship with me, and He wanted me to be holy and pure. So He sent Jesus for that.

Have you ever wondered where you would be without the blood of Jesus?

This year, I’m being thankful for Jesus, just like I should be every single day. I don’t want to take the blood of Jesus for granted. I crave a relationship with Jesus because of all He has done for me. As the song says, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Jesus died so we could be forgiven and have eternal life with our Creator. What’s stopping you from giving yourself completely to Him?

Hebrews 9:22: Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.