The first century historian Josephus tells the story of a king named Antipater, whose enemies went before Caesar and accused him of being disloyal. The only defense Antipater made was to throw off his outer garments and reveal the many scars he had received while fighting the emperor’s battles. That was enough.
A few years ago I heard someone on the radio say that in heaven, all of our emotional and spiritual scars will be erased. I’d long since learned not to take radio voices too seriously, but that thought still brought down my mood for a time. I could not, and still can’t, believe that God would be so cruel.
What is a scar? First off, a scar is not a wound. Rather, it’s the record of a wound that has healed. It’s a part of the body that is tougher than it was before it was injured. My scars are the record of spiritual battles. I won some, and lost others, but I fought all of them. And those battles played a big part in shaping me into the man I am today. To erase all those scars is to erase my history. No, worse than that, it’s to say that all of those battles aren’t worth remembering. That they didn’t matter. That when I was fighting them, I didn’t matter.
But I do matter, and the battles I fight matter, and God thinks that scars won in battle are worth keeping. How do I know? Because Jesus kept the scars from his battle:
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:26-27).
In the Scriptures we get some hints of the kind of body in which Jesus rose from the grave. He appeared at will inside locked rooms, and he disappeared just as easily (John 20:19, Luke 24:31). He flew (Acts 1:9). The body he now has can no longer die (Romans 6:9). And yet he still wears the scars of his victory, both on earth and in heaven (Revelation 5:6).
We live in a culture that says scars are ugly; that they disfigure. We spend money on plastic surgery to erase the scars on our bodies, and then apply that same attitude to the scars on our spirits. But God sees them differently. He doesn’t need my help to win the battles in my life. Rather, he allows me to fight those battles alongside him, so that I can share his victory. And sometimes, when I’m too eager to go off on my own, he allows me to fight alone, so I can learn what that’s like too. My scars are the record of victories won, and of lessons learned.
Battles produce wounds; that’s an unpleasant truth. And wounds need to be healed. But when a wound has been healed, it leaves behind something that is stronger and tougher than it was before. That’s what scars are; the toughness that comes from healed wounds. It’s the toughness that lets us say with Joseph:
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).
And they are a reminder that the battles we fight matter, both for this world and for the world to come.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).