SCARS


When we see or think of scars we recall how they happened if they belong to us. If the scars are someone else's, we might wonder what the wound was that caused them and probably why the wound occurred. I have several scars. Most of them are small and came from carelessness as a young boy. Two major scars have come in recent years from surgeries. What is interesting is that even to the smallest of the visible scars I can tell you the story about why I carry them. If you are like me, you also can relate your stories about your scars. Why should we be able to remember these happenings? I think it is because we were hurt at the time and pain registers in our mind and even our soul, especially if the pain came from someone you trusted, a friend, a neighbor, or even a family member.

 

I remember a scar that my cousin got from his twin brother when I was about ten years old. These boys were teenagers and had gotten into an argument that had become heated, and the smaller twin hit his brother in the mouth with his fist. His lip was cut badly and required stitching. The main reason I remember it is because I was present at the time and I was hurt in my mind and spirit at such a mean happening. I didn't know what the argument was between these young fellows, but I was amazed that they would be so mean, especially because they were of a strong Christian family, sang in the choir and were always in church when the doors were open. That was some 70 years ago, and I have learned a lot about scars since then, and where they come from. The first thought I have about them comes from God's Word in James: "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" (James 4:1 AV) They are born of lust among the members of the body, whether the church, the home, the neighborhood, or the nations of the world. They come from sin, and sin is born of the Devil.  Those twin brothers made things right among themselves, and as far as I know there were no further serious conflicts among them. But you know what? My cousin died in his seventies with a scar on his lip, and if you had asked him about it he would have told you, "it's really nothing; it's been forgiven". Here is a wonderful thing; the anger, the stroke, the wound, the pain, the hurt of soul, the family turmoil, the healing of the wound, all have been forgiven. But do you know what? Both men could tell you in detail what happened those many years ago.

 

The scars still tell the story, a story of sin, a story of how an enemy invaded the peaceful camp of home to wreak havoc. It was a reenactment of what happened with Cain and Able, all because of the sin in the Garden brought about by Satan's lies and Adam and Eve's unbelief, the sin that we all possessed when we came into this world where the serpent is still alive and working his lies and murder. When Jesus came into this world, He came to take upon Himself a body, not just the body of His flesh but His body, the Church. His Church, that had been men and women full of sin, that scarred His head, His back, His hands and feet, is now sanctified, purified, holy, washed in His blood, and forgiven. I remember the sin that brought my cousins to fight; I remember my sin that put scars upon our Lord, as do you, but wonder of wonders, Jesus has forgotten them all as they are cast away as far as the East is from the West. When we look upon His scarred body, we remember. When He looks upon His body, the Church, He has forgotten. I believe when we enter into glory that we will remember sin no more, for God is separate from sin, and when Jesus cried, "It is finished" that it was prophetic, meaning that Satan no longer could claim victory over man because of sin, because Jesus Christ cleanses us of all unrighteousness, making us fit to enter into the Father's house, and for the Father to enter our hearts. Praise be to His Name!

 

Way Truth Life Ministry 10-19-2002  www.wtlministry.org   Help Us @ www.wtlministry.org/invitationtohelp