I donate blood regularly, and if you are able, I urge you to do also. But that’s not what I’m writing about. Blood donors receive gifts when they donate, one of which is almost always a T-shirt. My last T-shirt had this slogan, “Recycle Life, Donate Blood.” My blood is recycled (transfused) into a person due to injury or surgery. It may save another’s life.

A person who receives a blood transfusion is strengthened by the blood they receive, but they remain the same person, living the same life as before. A person who is redeemed by the blood of Christ is no longer the same person. One is different and not recycled. First Peter 1:3 describes redemption in this way: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Jesus told Nicodemus that “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Life in Christ is not rehashing or recycling something old. New life in Christ is transformation, the making of all things new. A new birth suggests starting over, beginning again. The past may linger but it has no control over one’s present life. In Christ, one has been freed from the power of sin and death. We’re not recycled, we’re reborn.