Heart Tracks - Wounds

"As He spoke, He showed them the wounds in His hands and side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord."
John 20:20....."In eternity, the only wounds will be the scars of Christ." Sheila Walsh

Wounds. Scars. We all carry them, and sometimes it seems like none more so than the people of God. How we carry them will make all the difference to the state of our life, physically, emotionally, and especially, spiritually.

Some carry their scars and wounds about in a manner that assures everyone will see them. Everyone will know how much they suffered, and everyone will see, hear, and know the cause of the suffering. The wounds and the scars will be the centerpoint of their life. No healing has ever taken place, and really, no healing is truly desired. The wounds and the scars define them, and they can't let them go, they can't allow the Healer to heal them. Their wounds and scars are their prison.

Others carry their wounds in a much different way. They hide them, bury them behind of host of different ways to deny or suppress their existence, and their need. They don't talk about them to anyone, not even the Lord. On the surface, all may seem well, but in their spirit they're crippled. No one else may know or even perceive that, but the wounds, the scars, exercise an influence over every aspect of their lives. They have not refused the Healer so much as they have refused to acknowledge that they need Him. Their wounds and scars are just as much their prison as they are to the first group, no matter how things may appear on the surface.

Then there's a third group. These ones know they're wounded, know that they're scarred. They know, at least to some degree, that these wounds are crippling them, robbing them of life. They are willing to admit to their existence, and are willing to seek help and healing. Their problem is that they seek that healing from ones who cannot fully give it. Secular counselors, psychologists, and other types of "therapy." All of these can be helpful to a degree, but it really amounts to little more than putting band-aids on wounds that require deep spiritual and emotional surgery. Such is found in Christ alone. Scripture says that "all things hold together in Christ." He's the Alpha and Omega; the Beginning and the End. True healing begins, journeys, and ends in and through Him. Those who are in the fourth group know this. When they take the depth of their woundedness to Him, lay it and themselves at His feet, He receives it, and with His touch, the healing begins. From the eternal perspective, it is instant, from our earthly one, it is almost always a process. It has a beginning, and it will definitely have an end. As Walsh says, the only scars in eternity will be His. There will be none on, or in us.

I've mentioned four groups. To which do you belong? Where are your wounds and scars? What do you do with them? To whom are you taking them? This side of eternity, scars may remain, but wounds, even the deepest, can be healed, their power over us broken. Paul said he bore on his body the brand-marks, the scars of Jesus Christ. To him, and those who saw them, they were proof of the power of the Healer who was and is greater than any wound, even the deepest. May our scars, your scars be the same. And may we know that one day, on that day, all our scars will be gone, when we behold Him.....the One the old hymn says we'll know "by the nail prints on His hands."

Blessings,
Pastor O