“In this world you will have trouble…” Jesus
I am Jeff and I am scarred…
Wounded
Not the most comforting words found in RED in the good book, but as always with Jesus, they are honest. Those honest words were making one thing evident and clear to hearers that day, life is going to hurt you and leave you wounded. In the passing 2000 years, that promise remains true. We all end up hurt.
No matter whether you live 1 day or 100 years at some point in the journey life is going to sneak up from behind and shank you. You will one day be cut by life’s sharp edges. You will be scraped by its rough patches. And your nose will be bloodied by the punches it continues to throw.
Thanks for the comfort, Jeff. This is real pick me up post.
Well, Jesus essentially made you and I this promise: in this world you would get wounded. He was stating the obvious. I don’t think any of the twelve would have argued this point that day. They knew hurt, they knew sorrow, they knew grief. Jesus was just putting them on notice that it was coming. Jesus was telling his closest friends the world is going to wound you. And if you follow the stories of these men the wound up emotionally and physically cut open.
The crazier piece to the puzzle Jesus was painting is found in what he says next. “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” (emphasis mine).
If I were summing up the word that Christ so eloquently dripped to his friends it would be this: wounds tell the story of hurting, scars tell the story of healing.
Scarred
We all have a story of being wounded, but have you become scarred?
Scarred has a negative connotation in our society. As so delicately defined by that all reliable source Urban Dictionary to be scarred means to have lasting signs of damage. But in truth a scar is where a wound has healed. It is the visible symbol left on the skin of place where the wound no longer exists.
Wounds are the open places of hurt that still exist in your life. Wounds get pressed on and the bleeding reopens. Salt gets poured into that open wound, a burn sets in. When that wound heals, you are left with a scar.
When are left scarred, the pain of the wound has passed but the reminder of the healing remains.
At some point you have to become comfortable being scarred. Staying hidden never really brings healing. Healing arrives when the wounds of our life our laid before the healer. He is the one who takes the hurt and makes them scars.
Wounds tell the story of hurting, scars tell the story of healing.