Heart Tracks - Scars

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our inequities, the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5....."As He spoke, He showed them the wounds in His hands and His side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord." John 20:20...."The only scars in heaven will be on His hands...with our names written upon them." Anonymous...."Do we retreat into our pain, or take our wounds to Him?" Sheila Walsh

The first quote above was uttered by someone in a prayer time last week who wishes to remain anonymous. The power of it stuck with me. We know, at least in our heads, that there will be no tears, no pain or sorrow, and no wounds or scars in His great heaven. As my anonymous friend spoke, the only scars present will be those upon his hands and side. And upon those scars is written the name of every one of us who are His, bought by and kept by His precious blood. Along with our names go every one of our sorrows, every deep, scathing wound of this life....and all the scars that they have left upon us. All will be gone, along with our remembrance of the pain that went with them. It will happen fully there, but it can begin here. Has it begun for you? Are our names found on the scars upon His hands and side?

Does the question asked by Walsh pierce your heart as it does mine? What do we do with our pain, with our wounds? Do we retreat into them and live there? Or, do we take them to Him and find healing and wholeness? Time heals all wounds they say, but that's a lie. It doesn't. Life's landscape is filled with those who continue to live in the wounds and pain of their history. They never leave. They never become whole. This is a tragedy, and an even greater tragedy is that so many within His church live in exactly the same way. They withdraw, retreat, run into the bondage and darkness of their wounds, disappointments, defeats and failures. And they never emerge. They never become whole. And all the while, these hidden wounds will rise up in all aspects of their lives, most especially in relationships, and wreak havoc upon others and themselves. Wherever they go, their wounds come with them. Never healed, they become infected, and the infection spreads...not only in their lives, but upon all the lives they come into contact with. Wounds never healed become toxic...to everyone involved.

Jesus appeared to His disciples. Men who had utterly failed Him. The wounds they bore over their failures were deep. When He appeared among them, He showed them His wounds.....with their names written upon them. Their failure, their sin, was written there....as were all the effects of those sins and failures upon them. When He came into that room, it was to a group of broken, crippled people. He did not leave them that way. Neither will He leave us that way.....if we will but come to Him.

We live in a fallen world. Pain, sorrow, loss, sin...all are a part of it. None of us will walk through it unscathed. All will leave wounds and scars upon our lives. How do we respond? Do we retreat into, seek to hide in our pain...and so live as emotionally and spiritually toxic people....or do we bring it all to Him...who was wounded for us....and so brings healing to us? Do we allow Him to write our names upon His wounds, His scars? Satan, the enemy of our soul will seek to make his signature upon the sorrows of our life, and the result will be the festering of a wound that never heals, and leaves us with a living death. Christ bids us come, and bring those sorrows to Him...where He writes His name upon them, and in the doing, takes our name upon His. Names that He will carry on His hands and side into and through eternity.....Does He carry yours?

Blessings,
Pastor O