Nothing but the Blood

Blood is creepy. Well to most people at least. So when us believers talk about the blood of Jesus cleansing us and others no wonder some people think we are in a cult or have lost our minds! Here's the deal on that. Ready? Jesus gave his life, bore our sins on himself, shed his blood and paid a price that we will now never have to pay. It's not like I'm walking around wearing a vile of Jesus' blood as a guarantee against anything. His blood didn't need to touch me in the physical sense in order for me to be cleansed from my sin and unrighteousness. And the good news is the same holds true for you! The only thing we have to do to be cleansed by the blood he shed for us is to say, "You know what God? I believe that, I believe that you sent Jesus to shoulder all of my ick and pay the price for it and I can accept it. So I accept it and want to live a life that shows others that I accept the gift and I believe it." THAT'S IT!! It is a free gift! A man laid down his life for you and all you have to do is say, "Okay." Doesn't mean you are going to "get" everything right away, doesn't mean that some things aren't going to perplex you (like the Trinity or how God can continue to look at you with love when you mess up, you know things like that). But it means that you are cleansed before God, your sins have been atoned for and you don't have to pay the price for them, ever. Jesus took care of that for you. Once you believe that and can accept it you'll find yourself also singing in gratefulness for the blood of Jesus! :)

Nothing but the Blood (New tune for this beloved hymn!)
Nothing but the Blood (Brooke Fraser)
Nothing but the Blood (Jars of Clay doin' it with a country twist, nice!)
Nothing but the Blood (The Gaithers)

Comments

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

A dime a dozen

"It's said that in the year 1796, the first U.S. dimes were produced for circulation. Hence, it would make sense for this phrase to originate sometime after." Read more here . Today the phrase carries the meaning that something is cheap or without value if it can be lumped in with other similar or exactly-like things. It's more of an insult than anything.

Life according to van Gogh...sort of

There are two ways of thinking about painting, how not to do it and how to do it; how to do it -- with much drawing and little color; how not to do it -- with much color and little drawing. Vincent van Gogh in a l etter to Theo van Gogh, April 1882 Life is a little bit like today's quote from van Gogh. Some of us live life focusing on the drawing - the details - and have very little color. Others of us go for the color and forsake, to a degree, the drawing - the details. Unlike painting, according to van Gogh, one is not wrong over the other but somewhere in between the two would be the best I would think. If you look at some of van Gogh's paintings I feel like you can see where he might have struggled between the "how to do it" and the " how not to do it" (as he admittedly loved color so much but knew he had to focus more on the drawing) and that seems to be reflected in his life as well. In the end he wasn't able to find the ...

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