Scars

On my right arm I have a scar from where my older brother once stabbed me with a pen (to be fair to him, we were sword fighting with pens and he got the best of me). Every time I look down and see that scar, I remember the pen incident. I’m sure each one of you has a scar with a history of its own.

Unfortunately, some scars remind individuals of incredibly difficult memories. A young girl wears scars across her arms where she once cut herself because of the depression she felt. A young man looks down at the scars from needles he injected while using drugs earlier in life. Scars like these make it difficult to leave behind a life that hurt us in so many ways. And scars like these don’t always have to be physical marks. Some wear emotional scars that make it so hard to forget something from the past that they’ve tried to leave behind. The scars seem to be a constant reminder.

However, another man wears scars that serve as a reminder too. As Jesus Christ stood before the apostles after he had been raised from death, he told them to touch the reminders from his crucifixion just three days earlier: his hands and his side. You see, Jesus wears scars too. His scars can serve as a reminder for us as well. Not only do they remind us of His death but they remind us of the salvation that we can have through Him. Because of the scars that He wears, our scars can be forgotten. Sure, we may always wear the physical scars, but because of the scars that Christ wears, our past mistakes can be removed as if they never happened.

I don’t know what your scars are. They may be physical or they may be some other kind of scar. In fact, you may never be able to get to a point where that scar isn’t there. However, when you put Christ on as your savior through baptism, those past mistakes are forgiven. The scars may always remain, but because of Christ’s scars we can be seen as pure and blameless in God’s eyes.