I Rejoice in My Scars!!!

I came to saving faith in Jesus Christ in June 1998 after 28 years of living a life of celebratory debauchery. I clearly remember the sensational feeling of the Holy Spirit coming into me and bringing life to my dead soul. The LORD did an amazing work in my life that afternoon and the scales fell off of my eyes and revealed a life to me that was beyond comprehension.

Since that day I have alway rejoiced in my salvation and also grieved and regretted my past life before Christ. The closer I have walked with my LORD the more I have come to understand the great offense my sin was to God and how much that sin damaged my soul. My willful and deliberate sinful living inflicted wounds deep within me.

When Jesus Christ transformed my life he healed my wounds. In fact it is by his own wounds that I am healed! Now when a wound is healed it leaves a scar. Sin has consequences! Sin is forgiven 100% and there are times when we must deal with the consequences that result from various sins we have committed.

For too long I allowed the scars to remind me of my sinful past and the damage that was inflicted upon me as a result. My wounds have been healed, but the scars remain I would lament. I believe that it is healthy to lament over your past sin, but one can easily focus on past sin and the damage it cause rather than the healing that has taken place.

Scars are reminders of wounds, but more than that they are a testimony to the healing that has taken place in our lives. John Ensor in The Great Work of the Gospel, reminds us that...

"We may choose to hide the scars of our past sin in shame and guilt, or bear them graciously as a testimony to the grace of God. The ongoing consequences of some of our sins are not reminders of our sin, they are reminders of the Great Work on our behalf. In this way, our triumph ovr shame is completed. What guilt and shame once used to black mail us into silence, God now uses to make our testimony ring authentic and glad of heart."

My scars testify to the glory of God and the grace of the gospel. They speak of the wonderful healing that God has done in my life. My wounds were so severe that certain death awaited me, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great live with which he loved me, even when I was dead in my sin, made me alive together with Christ.

I have been rebuked, and rightfully so. Now I will rejoice in my scars. Jesus himself bears scars that testify to the grace of God. I am thankful that the LORD saw fit to reveal the power of the gospel to me in a deeper and more profound way.

Soli Deo Gloria