Toss out the Blood - CM03

I heard about this guy. He was in a church service struggling with thoughts of unworthiness when the communion time came. A moment of celebration and joy, turned into a threaten and tense atmosphere like a sentenced to death row man in front of the judge. The cup and the breath more than a reminder of the salvation achieved by Christ looked like weapons pointed straight to him. The guilt of a sin committed not long time ago wighted more than any word of encouragement he could hear from the pulpit. The time to grab the symbols came, and although he did not suffer of Parkinson disses, his hand were constantly shaking. A hundred million thoughts came to his head, but one question prevails? Should I take the symbols? What if God punishes me, I am not worthy of the blood of Christ, he rustled with his invisible enemy in his mind. Finally rationalization creep in like always. “It's just a symbol, it's not the real thing, I am not catholic, this is not the real blood of Jesus and his body” So he hold the cup for a little while, and carefully hid it in the top pocket of his always elegant suit, the bred was easy to put it in any pocket and as soon as the service was over, uneasily and stiffly walked to the men's room thinking that he would deal with this later on. He thought the struggled was over, but holding the cup in front of the bathroom toilet to pour out the juice wasn't an easy thing to do. But the ever present rationalization took over again and thinking the a symbol is just that, a symbol, the sacred juice was mixed with disposable water. God was watching the whole picture quietly all this time, but now it was time to talk. The voice wasn't heard in the bathroom but in the heart of this young man the soft-laud voice of the Lord was clearly heard: “I know those are symbols but you symbolically have rejected the blood of my Son”



That young man was me. It took me this shameful experience to realize that God's love and forgiveness is unconditional, and if I repent he doesn't hold grudges against me for a while like humans do, but He wants to restore my relationship with him immediately. The Holy Spirit says: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the cup” 1Co 11:28 KJV. The commandment is to examine ourself, but also is to eat the bread and drink of the cup, the only thing left in between is repentance. It does not say, if you examine yourself and find sin don't drink and eat, but it says, examine and eat and drink. So if you examine yourself and find sins in your life , it's not to reject this symbols, but to repent , and take those symbols that represent life, your life and the life of Christ. This is a time of confession and reconciliation with God, how can we bring our offering and our worship with unclean hands and hearts? God is here now, ready to embrace us, caress us, hold us, if we examine our lives and repent before him.
Let's have a moment of silence and let's examine our hearts.