Our past might be filled with scars from wounds self-inflicted or inflicted by others. The scars may be physical and more often they are deeply emotional, memorable, and spiritual. Smells, sights, or sounds can quickly trigger the wounds as if they were being inflicted again from the past into the present. How does one get rid of the scars, wounds, or the triggers? Is there anyway to diminish or reduce their impact on your living today?
What our hearts or the world tend to do to remove the crucial pain is by masking or covering it up. We do this through any means necessary, good or bad. Some might choose alcohol to drink themselves drunk. Some might use drugs, legal or illegal. Some might pay for endless hours of therapy confession and re-living and re-re-living the moments of the past. Some hide. Some spend money. Some just live cold and emotionless to not taste good knowing it might turn bad quickly. Some use work. Some use laziness or procrastination. Some try suicide. Some try having kids. Some try faking it with smiles through the day to plummet into frowns at night. Some try various lifestyles. Some try different religions. And on and on it goes.
Either we continue the unhelpful and constant erosion of our soul and heart from the past wounds continuing to be ripped open or we trust what God has provided as an inspirational memory, fact, and relationship to bring us through this evil and broken world. What is it? It’s not a what but a who — a person, a deity in flesh with a name — Jesus.
Reject him and you will continue in craziness and be lost. Use him as a bandaid you will find yourself hating him for not helping. Re-interpret him to be someone or something else, you will be more confused and lost that when you first started.
When pain comes, it can have a deceptive power on our memory, senses, and even natural-physiological makeup, but God is more powerful than anything and he intended thousands of years ago to bring healing to this broken world. His healing is through someone else to affect us, as we read in the Bible’s Old Testament book of Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
This Bible passage was recorded in the 700 B.C.’s about the coming Christ (Messiah) who would take upon the worst wound and scar humanity will ever know — which is separation from God and living with the weight of Godlessness in life (i.e. living with sin and evil weighing us down). God’s eternal plan revealed in this temporal world was for One to come and take upon our sin, wounds, and bring healing.
The healing was establishing a relationship with God beyond our abilities or attempts and through the person and work of the Christ, Jesus. Here is what Isaiah prophetically recorded:
“But he [Messiah] was pierced for our transgressions; he [Messiah] was crushed for our iniquities; upon him [Messiah] was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his [Messiah] wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5 ESV)
Therefore, God never intended or desires us to live by ourselves or by something else, especially by the scars or wounds from life or the past. He desires, plans, counsels, calls, and commands us to live by Christ Jesus — wounded for us. This is a refreshing and loving truth that over the course of time will either fully replace the scars of our past or will be the most powerful fighter to deceptive power of our scars.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)
Whether it’s a new year or an old year, we come to trust God with the entirety of our life, including our past (whether our sin or sin done against us), and live as a new creation — different from before.
Live new today because Jesus lived, died, and resurrected for you.
His word is a treasure trove of counsel, wisdom, direction, understanding, and knowledge. But any of that will be futile when learned without trust or fear (awe) of the Lord. Learn the Lord in life, and dig into his incredible word for real life.
“The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:1–7 ESV)
