Has life left you a few mementos? For me it’s silicone lenses, a capsular tension ring, a fifty micron ophthalmic shunt, a metal anchor in each heel, plus the usual stretch marks, wrinkles, gray hairs, numerous surgical scars, and quite a few missing parts. For Keith it’s a plastic eye socket, five bullet wound scars, a few wrinkles (very few, dear), and a loss of hair. Our battle scars make our lives sound far more interesting than they actually are.
We live in a culture that wants to erase those marks of life at any cost. I still don’t understand why anyone would want to get rid of laugh lines. Does she want people to think she has lived a miserable life? I remember a couple of little boys who were thrilled to death whenever they had a “booboo” to display. I suppose it all depends on how we got those “booboos.” I am never quick to show off a bruise I got for being downright stupid.
Paul was proud to mention the scars he earned for the Lord, Henceforth, let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus, Gal 6:17.
What about spiritual battle scars? If we are fighting “the good fight,” we ought to have quite a few. I wonder, though, if we have fallen into the trap of our culture. No scar is a good one because no fight is a good fight. Love everyone and accept everything they do. We might as well take the scissors to our Bibles.
If I don’t have any spiritual scars, why not? Is it because I run from the fight, too ignorant of the Sword to do battle? Am I too concerned with the opinion of my neighbors to stand up for something unpopular? Is it because I give into temptation too easily? Satan only tempts those he has not caught. Maybe I am just a POW too cowardly to try to escape.
On the last day, we had better have a few battle scars to show the Lord. We enlisted in an army that fights all day every day. Deserters will not receive the reward.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh, 2 Cor 4:7-11.
Dene Ward
We live in a culture that wants to erase those marks of life at any cost. I still don’t understand why anyone would want to get rid of laugh lines. Does she want people to think she has lived a miserable life? I remember a couple of little boys who were thrilled to death whenever they had a “booboo” to display. I suppose it all depends on how we got those “booboos.” I am never quick to show off a bruise I got for being downright stupid.
Paul was proud to mention the scars he earned for the Lord, Henceforth, let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus, Gal 6:17.
What about spiritual battle scars? If we are fighting “the good fight,” we ought to have quite a few. I wonder, though, if we have fallen into the trap of our culture. No scar is a good one because no fight is a good fight. Love everyone and accept everything they do. We might as well take the scissors to our Bibles.
If I don’t have any spiritual scars, why not? Is it because I run from the fight, too ignorant of the Sword to do battle? Am I too concerned with the opinion of my neighbors to stand up for something unpopular? Is it because I give into temptation too easily? Satan only tempts those he has not caught. Maybe I am just a POW too cowardly to try to escape.
On the last day, we had better have a few battle scars to show the Lord. We enlisted in an army that fights all day every day. Deserters will not receive the reward.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh, 2 Cor 4:7-11.
Dene Ward
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