Thankful for the Scars

The Christian band I Am They, have a song out entitled "Scars", which speaks to me on two different levels. When I first heard the song, I thought the writer was giving thanks to our Father in Heaven for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. What an example for us to live by, sacrificing self for the sake of others. The chain of events that occurred in Jesus's death and resurrection provided us with a path to our own eternal salvation. Jesus's willingness to be condemned to die on a criminal's cross, created that pathway for each of us. Most definitely, I am thankful for His nail scarred hands. So, on a first listen, that was the message I received. We will never be able to repay Jesus for those scars, yet He wants us to live out a life of sacrifice that is modeled by the example Jesus gave us through the life He lived, and the enduring commitment that He exhibited in death on the cross. The more I listened to the song, and the more I became familiar with the full lyrics of the song, the deeper message became clear to me and that is what I want to share today. 

Each of us has endured painful life experiences, failure, death, heartbreak, and disappointment would be broad buckets where most of us could drop our hurts. Enduring those painful experiences is what leads us to creating our own "scars" in life. The pain of a divorce will never be totally forgotten, because the two individuals made a commitment to love one another forever, when that promise is broken it takes time for the hurt to heal over and eventually become a scar. The untimely loss of a loved one creates a deep wound that we would not want to wish on anyone, yet over time that loss can become easier to deal with, signaling that a scar is being established where previously an open wound existed. Pain and sorrow are not unique to a small select group, we each face adversity and affliction. Tragedy and hurts happen without warning, yet we are not alone in our pain. The Great Physician is there with you and He offers healing for our hurts and wounds. God doesn't promise that we will never face adversity, actually the opposite is true, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. What God does promise is that we will never face our tribulations alone. "But the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 14:26.

As we learn to seek comfort through prayer, mediation, and spending time with God the Physician we begin to understand that we have never been alone in our hardships and tribulations. In our hurt, Jesus, becomes our Healer. His example of the life He lived, the peace that the Holy Spirit evokes, and the comforting truth that we are not facing this life alone, allow us to gain strength and confidence to walk forward. We get knocked down and skin our knees, but the strength that we gain through our relationship with God, allows us to get back up, dust ourselves off, and allow God's plan to create scars where a wound once existed.

I believe that is the deeper message that the song "Scars" wants to share. We will forever be indebted to Christ for the gift we did not deserve, but just as the wounds He endured for each of us serve now as a reminder of that sacrifice in the form of a scar, we too can be thankful for the scars we can point out in our own lives. "I am thankful for my scars, because without them I wouldn't know Your heart". Every hurt that we have endured has left a scar, but that scar is our reminder that we were never alone during even the most painful moments. That is why we can point to those scars and say "Thank You God!"

Today you have a choice, you can decide to be bitter and blame God for your pains and sufferings, or you can look to God and say I'm thankful for the scars of yesterday, and I am trusting in You today to take the wounds of today and turn those into the scars of tomorrow. Are you at a place in your life that you can thank God for the not so good times as much as your times of joy? For me, I am thankful for the scars that tell me who He is and what He has done and continues to do for me each day! 

Coach Carter