CHRISTIANITY + BLOOD
What does it mean to be a Christian? Put simply, it means to be a follower of Christ, someone who strives, with God’s help, to become like Christ. We become His followers by walking in the way Jesus walked (John 2:6).
And while there are many ways to express the life of Christ in our own lives, one of the clearest and most obvious ways is to offer our blood for the health and life of our neighbors.
As Christians, when we donate, receive, or assist with blood donation, we are carrying on the life-giving work Christ initiated, both in his healing ministries and in his ultimate work of self-giving on the cross. We have all been called to receive with grateful hearts the gift of life God has given to us, and to offer back to Him and our neighbor all that we have—including our blood.
The great joy of Christian life begins and ends with gift-giving: the gift of God’s great love for us, His unending mercy, and the gift of life itself. And just as God has given to us, we have been called to give to others. Service and gratitude, you might say, are written into our spiritual DNA. We have been made, by God, to give to others.
Blood symbolizes all that we have, all that we have received and did not earn. But blood is more than a symbol for the gift of life. It is also a very real and material substance that combats death and disease. By becoming a part of the blood-donation family, we affirm the goodness of life. We become warriors, who offer themselves on behalf of Christ’s kingdom, the kingdom where “there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:4).