As the Supreme Lawgiver, Jehovah has consistently conveyed clear laws to his people (Isaiah 33:22). One of the most tender and solemn is his command about blood. Why? Because Jehovah himself says that blood represents life — a gift so sacred it cannot be replaced. “The life of every sort of flesh is its blood” (Leviticus 17:14, NWT).

That truth is not abstract. It touches us in the most vulnerable of places. A waiting room. A hospital bed. The rustle of papers as a doctor explains a procedure. The steady beeping of monitors reminding us how fragile a heartbeat really is. In moments like these, the world may press us — sign here, agree to this, take what is offered. Yet the decision is not small. To Jehovah, it is sacred. For long ago he told Noah: “You must not eat the flesh with its life — that is, its blood” (Genesis 9:4, NWT). He repeated the command under the Law given to Israel. And he carried it forward when the first-century governing body decreed that all Christians must “keep abstaining… from blood” (Acts 15:28, 29, NWT).

What if, in that pressured moment, we pictured Jehovah leaning near, saying, “Your life is precious to me. Do not surrender what is holy”? What if we imagined his hands steadying ours as we hold firm against the signatures and the sighs of those who do not understand? Then our chest loosens. Our heart steadies. We remember: we are not alone.

The world says blood is a fluid, a substance to be used, a solution to a crisis. But Jehovah says blood is life. His view is higher, deeper, truer. And when we choose His way, we are saying more than “no” to a transfusion. We are saying “yes” to Him — yes to the Giver of life, yes to the hope that extends beyond this fragile moment, yes to the God who will one day remove sickness altogether.

Is it easy? No. Sometimes the pressure feels unbearable, the fear of losing life pressing on our chest like a weight. But then we remember who holds our breath, our pulse, our tomorrows. “Jehovah is the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One guiding you in the way you should walk” (Isaiah 48:17, NWT). That guidance is never meant to harm us. It is always for our peace.

So we hold firm. We uphold Jehovah’s law regarding blood, not stubbornly, but faithfully. We remind ourselves that the very beat in our chest comes from Him — and that our life rests safely in His hands.

Life in the blood belongs to Jehovah. And when we honor that truth, our own life, fragile though it feels, becomes part of something eternal.

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Reference: w23.07 14 ¶5