True Scars
Everybody has scars. Some physical scars even come with cool fun stories like the time you fell out of tree, got bit by a dog, etc. I have one that happened when a rock got embedded in my knee. I was running from my dog who was dragging a deer carcass behind her. While I running I tripped and fell in a small mud puddle. The rock came out a couple weeks later but the scar stayed. Other scars have a more painful story attached, like the time I got severely sunburned on my thighs. Everything was agony for a few days and even now my upper thighs don't tan. Some physical and almost all emotional scars have stories attached that we don't want people to know about. The first time our trust was betrayed, abuse, misuse of power, the list can go on and on. But I think the most painful scars are the ones we give ourselves, self-hatred, addictions, the things we say to ourselves late at night, shame. These are wounds meant to stay ripped open, they rarely become a scar. Yet whenever we are asked about them, that's how we word it, "Oh they're just scars, I'm working on them, they'll go away in time, and blah, blah, blah it goes." But they rarely do go away, we just find more things to cover them up with. So the wound never heals.
I found out something interesting the other day. Scars don't hurt. Now before you say "Duh" and chuckle, think it through. Read it again; scars do not hurt. If the area around a scar hurts it is either because the nerves around or below it are inflamed or because the wound underneath it has not healed. Once a true scar has been made and all the healing has occurred pick, poke, slap the scar, it won't hurt. So to say our emotional scars still hurt us is stating that the wound is not yet fully healed. I'm not one to tell you when a wound should heal, whether it's instantaneous or occurs over time is up to what is necessary for each person. Some wounds take time to heal and that's alright. But it's important that we know the difference between a scar, a wound, and when a beginning scar may be hiding an unhealed wound.
So often we (and I'm 100% guilty of this) try to hide our scars. We feel shameful about them, especially the invisible ones. But let me remind you- Jesus had scars. The points where nails pierced his hands and feet, where a spear stabbed his side, they were visible even after his resurrection. John 20:25 (NIV) So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” So if Jesus had visible scars why should we be ashamed of ours? A scar is a symbol of when you were injured but survived. Our scars show that not only did we live, we let the One True Healer take the poison from those injuries so they could truly heal.
John 20:27 (NIV) Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Jesus also used His scars as a way to prove His victory over death! He showed Thomas each spot, allowed him to touch them all as a way to prove that death could not defeat him. What might happen if we allowed God to use our scars as proof of life to others desperate to know the living God? What if instead of hiding half-healed scabs we let God use the Holy Spirit to completely heal us? Then our scars would be powerful reminders to everyone that there is nothing God cannot use for good. Remember the story of Joseph; he saved Egypt and his family but first he was a slave and imprisoned for years. Genesis 50:20 (NLV) You planned to do a bad thing to me. But God planned it for good, to make it happen that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. I would rather my scars be used to show the captives that there is freedom and life, than to serve as painful reminders of a past I cannot change. Let them show how Jesus covered my past and gave me a future!
I found out something interesting the other day. Scars don't hurt. Now before you say "Duh" and chuckle, think it through. Read it again; scars do not hurt. If the area around a scar hurts it is either because the nerves around or below it are inflamed or because the wound underneath it has not healed. Once a true scar has been made and all the healing has occurred pick, poke, slap the scar, it won't hurt. So to say our emotional scars still hurt us is stating that the wound is not yet fully healed. I'm not one to tell you when a wound should heal, whether it's instantaneous or occurs over time is up to what is necessary for each person. Some wounds take time to heal and that's alright. But it's important that we know the difference between a scar, a wound, and when a beginning scar may be hiding an unhealed wound.
So often we (and I'm 100% guilty of this) try to hide our scars. We feel shameful about them, especially the invisible ones. But let me remind you- Jesus had scars. The points where nails pierced his hands and feet, where a spear stabbed his side, they were visible even after his resurrection. John 20:25 (NIV) So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” So if Jesus had visible scars why should we be ashamed of ours? A scar is a symbol of when you were injured but survived. Our scars show that not only did we live, we let the One True Healer take the poison from those injuries so they could truly heal.
John 20:27 (NIV) Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Jesus also used His scars as a way to prove His victory over death! He showed Thomas each spot, allowed him to touch them all as a way to prove that death could not defeat him. What might happen if we allowed God to use our scars as proof of life to others desperate to know the living God? What if instead of hiding half-healed scabs we let God use the Holy Spirit to completely heal us? Then our scars would be powerful reminders to everyone that there is nothing God cannot use for good. Remember the story of Joseph; he saved Egypt and his family but first he was a slave and imprisoned for years. Genesis 50:20 (NLV) You planned to do a bad thing to me. But God planned it for good, to make it happen that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. I would rather my scars be used to show the captives that there is freedom and life, than to serve as painful reminders of a past I cannot change. Let them show how Jesus covered my past and gave me a future!
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