Forever Scarred

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. —Isaiah 53:5, NKJV

Many of us have at least one scar. Some of us have more than one—and most of us carry some kind of emotional scar. It is hard to get through this life without any kind of scar. The definition of a scar is “a mark left on the body by some kind of trauma, burn, or wound.” An emotional scar is the lasting effect of fear or grief on a person’s character caused by a traumatic experience. Scars leave permanent damage. In a song that spoke of scars, the lyrics mentioned that Christ would be the only One who would carry scars in heaven.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how true it was.

Because He took on our human form, He was destined to stay in that form forever. He kept the scars of His trauma on our behalf as a reminder to us, and all the universe, of how much sin really cost. We know Jesus has scars because, after the Resurrection, the Bible tells us that Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had risen unless he saw the scars and could put his fingers where the nails had been. Jesus dealt gently with Thomas’s doubt and allowed him to see and touch His scars. The truly beautiful thing about this is that we are told we will get new bodies and become perfect. We will no longer carry the scars of this life, nor will we have the emotional scars that have haunted us our whole lives.

We get to be made new, but Christ will forever bear His scars.

We will be able to look upon them, touch them, and hear again the beautiful story of ultimate love that bought us, joining us to Him forever.

That thought overwhelms me and fills me with a sense of wonder at the great love Christ has for me. My dear sisters, if you are dealing with the scars this life has left on you physically and emotionally, take comfort in the fact that it will not always be this way.

One day soon, they will all be gone, and the only scars you will ever see will be on the body of the One who gladly let Himself be forever marked with the scars of eternal love.

You are loved more than you can ever know.

Let this thought strengthen and comfort you today.

Our scars are temporary because His are permanent.

Thank you, Lord, for Your great love and sacrifice for us!

Debra Snyder