The Love of Jesus
In his book, Written in Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy back in the 1940s whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained to the little boy and his parents that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary" the doctor asked?
Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister."
Soon the two children were wheeled into a hospital room. Mary was pale and thin; while Johnny was robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned at his sister. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube. When the ordeal was almost over, his voice slightly shaky, Johnny broke the silence.
"Doctor, when do I die?"
Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had at first hesitated and why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He'd thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great decision to lay down his life for his sister.
Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Each of us however, has a condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give not just His blood, but His life. Take a moment today to thank God for His salvation which for us if full and free.
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:12-15 NKJV)
