Sweating Blood

And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke 22:44 (NKJV)

I was discussing the event of Jesus praying to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane with my friend Jeff Egli the other day. Specifically the great distress He suffered in the garden. We are told in Luke 22:44 of how Jesus was in such agony, His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Jesus had just asked His Father if there was any way He could take “this cup” from Him.

The cup Jesus was referring to was the terrible agony He knew He would endure—not only from the crucifixion, but even worse, the total separation from God He would have to endure for the sins of the world. For the first time ever God would be separated from His only begotten Son because of the sin of mankind, and both of them were willing to make this sacrifice because of their genuine love for us.

I feel my friend Jeff captured the depth of this act of love by God and Christ perfectly when he wrote this to me, “The Father would have to turn His back to His Son due to the sin He would take upon Himself on my behalf.” He then said, “That struck me like a cold wet slap. What kind of relationship do I have compared to that? That is what our relationship should be like...”

As I thought about Jeff’s comment, I found myself in total agreement—we should value our relationship with our Heavenly Father in the same way Jesus does. Maybe we should sweat drops of blood when we entertain sin in our mind and regard iniquity in our heart. Maybe we should be in anguish at the thought of having our fellowship being separated.

Jesus died so we might have fellowship with God—by His stripes we are healed (Isa. 53:5). When we choose to walk in the light we have this beautiful fellowship with God and with other believers, and we can be confident our sins have been wiped clean.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 (NKJV)

I want to encourage you to meditate upon these things today. Let’s carefully consider what God has given us through the crucifixion of Jesus. Let’s make it our priority to not allow anything to be of a greater value to us than our fellowship with God. Let’s seek to have an amazing relationship with our Father, God, our Savior Jesus, and our Intimate Friend, Holy Spirit.

STUDY QUESTION: According to 1 John 1:7 what do we get when we choose to walk in the light?

PERSONAL INVENTORY: Is your fellowship with God your most treasured possession?

APPLICATION: Let’s ask God to search our heart and reveal anything we may participating in that would cause a separation in our fellowship with Him.