I Heart You!

I-heart-you. A not-so-new trend is for people to curve their hands into a heart shape to show they love someone. I argue that a better way to show love is to say, “I blood you.” It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well, nor does blood have a cute shape we can curve our hands into, but the heart is merely the organ that pushes the blood through our bodies (100 gallons per hour, according to the Texas Heart Institute). Whereas, blood is life to the body.

Medics know how important it is to stop a patient from bleeding out. I once had a slew of nurses run into my hospital room because, after having a c-section (due to the baby being breech), I went to use the bathroom and caught my IV in the lovely net panties the hospital provides and accidentally ripped the IV out. My blood squirted onto the ceiling and the walls, like out of a scene from a horror movie. I had to hit the nurse station button with my elbow so I could apply pressure to stop the bleeding. The nurse asked what happened over the intercom, and before I could blink there were as many nurses in the bathroom with me as could fit.

Blood possesses powerful significance because life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). We read this in the book of Genesis 4:8-10 when Cain asked his brother Able to go out into the fields, where Cain attacked and killed his brother. God asked Cain where Able was, and Cain responded, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” To which God replied, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!”

Our lifeblood is precious and valuable to God. When I was a new Christian, I heard the songs comparing Jesus to a lamb and thought it was an odd comparison. I could understand the Lion of Judah, but a cuddly, dependent lamb? But then I learned the reason for the Old Testament animal sacrifices. Blood was needed for protection, like when the blood was painted on the doorposts so the angel of death would pass over the Israelites’ homes. Blood also covers sins (1 John 1:7), heals (Isaiah 53:5), and restores (Ephesians 1:7), and a sacrifice of blood is needed to seal a covenant with God (Matthew 26:28).

Jesus took the place of the sacrificial lamb. He displayed the ultimate I heart you, by giving us an I blood you. From the cross, His blood poured out for us. His blood sacrifice tore the temple sanctuary in two, shook the earth, splitting rocks apart, and opened tombs, raising Godly men and women from the dead (Matthew 27:50-54). When the Lion of Judah laid His life down as a lamb to the slaughter, He created a new covenant with God so that we can now plead the blood of Jesus over us, be forgiven, and have our lives restored to live eternally with our Father in Heaven.

There’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. - John 15:13
 
Happy Valentine’s Day!