In my former laboratory, we had a weekly management meeting where diagnostic issues and concerns from the prior week were reviewed. During one meeting, an unusual situation arose. A Japanese patient was upset because a routine blood test performed by our laboratory revealed a different blood type than the one he had always believed he had. We repeated the test and obtained the same result. The patient complained to his primary care physician, who then filed a formal complaint with our laboratory. The patient was absolutely sure of his blood type.
My colleagues could not understand why he was so upset. If anything, they felt he should be thankful that our laboratory had corrected and confirmed his true blood type. I explained that there was much more to this than a laboratory result. In Japan, there has long been a popular belief that a person’s blood type is associated with personality and compatibility with others. For some people, blood type has even influenced whom they date or marry, and blood-type stereotypes have extended into the workplace. There is no scientific evidence that blood type determines personality, but the belief can still have very real consequences.
For this middle-aged man, his blood type may have been part of how he understood himself for most of his life. Now our laboratory was telling him that something he had believed about himself for decades was wrong.
No wonder he was upset.
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:11 (NKJV)
On what do you base your life? There are many things that compete for our attention and devotion. We may allow our lives to be influenced by our culture, our careers, our possessions, the opinions of others, or even superstitions such as blood types, astrological signs, or the positioning of furniture in our homes. But what happens when the things upon which we have based our lives turn out to be wrong?
Once again, God gives us the answer.
There is only one foundation that matters in this life: Jesus Christ. He is our Lord and Savior, and when we place our faith and trust in Him, we are saved. Jesus Christ is God, the Creator and Sustainer of all creation. Everything else upon which we build our lives can change. He does not.
The laboratory result did not change this man’s blood type. It changed what he believed about his blood type. Perhaps that is the more important question for each of us: What have I believed about my life that may not be true?
And ultimately: What is my foundation for life?
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #1Corinthians3:11 #Yourbloodtypechanged
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We can spend a lifetime believing something about ourselves—our identity, our abilities, our worth, even what determines our future.
But what happens when something we were absolutely certain about turns out to be wrong?
This patient thought the laboratory had made a mistake. Instead, the result challenged something he had believed about himself for most of his life.
It made me wonder: What have I built my life upon that could someday prove unreliable?
“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” — 1 Corinthians 3:11 (NKJV)
What is your foundation for life?