I know, I know, what a terrible title for a blog post. Who would ever call their post, “The Bloody Thumb?” But that is exactly what inspired this post, so I thought it would be fitting to make it the title. Besides, it got you to check it out, didn’t it? So here is how a bloody thumb inspired me to write this post…
For my devotions the other day I was reading in the book of Leviticus. In case you have never spent much time in the book of Leviticus, it is one of the places where many people who have committed to read through the Bible in a year get bogged down. It contains detailed information on making offerings, observing festivals, figuring out what is clean and unclean and instructions for priests. It is not an easy read, but it is important for understanding the requirements for covering sin and guilt.
So what does all of this have to do with a bloody thumb? I was just getting to that. Basically, sometime this weekend I cut my finger. It wasn’t a big cut. Actually, I didn’t even realize I cut it. It was one of those small, paperthin cuts that you don’t even really notice. It didn’t even bleed so I didn’t put on a bandaid. I just noticed that my thumb was a little sore.
The next morning, I went to do my devotions and found myself in the book of Leviticus. As I was reading I noticed that a couple of specks of red were on the bottom of the page. I looked at my thumb and realized that my cut had opened up and bled just a little bit. So I now have 2 little spots of blood right next to Leviticus 5 in my Bible.
My first reaction was to try and wipe it off, but it was such a little amount that it had dried already. So I continued with my devotions, but now I was reading off of a blood stained page. And I found myself marveling at what a great reminder I had been given because of a bloody thumb.
You see, Leviticus tells us about how the people of Israel would make offerings over and over again to cover their sins and bring them back to a right relationship with God. This pointed the way to the perfect sacrifice that would one day be made through the death of Jesus Christ. When Christ was crucified on the cross, He became the perfect sacrifice that would cover the sins of the world.
So there I was being reminded of all this while looking at how my blood had stained my Bible. How amazing to realize that while my blood stained the page of my Bible, Christ’s blood washes me clean of the stain of sin in my life. Because of His sacrifice, I have been washed white as snow. As we are reminded in Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
If you are reading this blog today and would like to hear more about how Christ’s sacrifice can cover your sins, please email me or give me a call, because I would love to talk more with you about this wonderful Good News.