I had a heart attack on Sept. 5. Like 9/11, 9/5 is now a date I will always remember.

Among many other thoughts that have entered my mind since that day, I remember the image a nurse showed me of my coronary artery before and after the heart attack. The artery was completely blocked. Zero blood was getting to my heart from that source.

Had the pain not motivated me to go to the hospital when I did, the lack of oxygen-rich blood to my heart could have damaged the heart muscle. My heart could have stopped beating entirely.

The blood of Jesus is equally important to our spiritual hearts. Jesus Himself made that point when the Jews were bothered by His claim to be the bread of life from heaven.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56).

We gather around this table every Sunday to do just that. We eat the bread, which represents the flesh that Jesus sacrificed on the cross. And we drink the cup, which represents the blood that drained from His body until His own life was gone.

Jesus gave His physical life to bring us to life spiritually, and He gave us this memorial to keep His blood flowing figuratively through our souls. If we let the cares of this world drag us down — or we succumb to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye or the pride of life — the blood will clot. The arteries will get blocked. The heart will suffer damage. We will eventually die for all eternity.

God doesn’t want that to happen. This feast is His way of keeping us focused. It’s our blood thinner. It’s our cardiac rehab. It’s our hope. The Great Physician is here every first day of the week. We need to show up for the appointment, center our hearts on Him, and build our strength for the spiritual battles ahead.

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light,” the apostle John wrote, “we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7).

For more ideas to share at the Lord’s Supper, see “Christ Before Our Eyes: 52 Readings to Draw Closer to Christ at the Lord’s Supper” (advertisement), by Shane Scott.