The Scar on My Finger

I guess I thought it was a good idea at the time. I really don’t know. It has been a long time ago. All I know about the timing of the event is that I’ve seen a picture of me as a very young boy that shows the evidence of my decision/action. 

The photographer apparently thought that it would be a good idea to let the little guy pose with a ball in his hands. If you look at his hands, you can easily see the evidence of that decision I’d made earlier. There is a very visible scar on the index finger of his left hand. 

That evidence is still there, but it is much more difficult to see. In fact, it would not surprise me to learn that there are members of my own family who have never noticed it and do not even know it is there.

I learned the hard way that a little boy has no business messing around with his mother’s paring knife. This is especially true if the knife is very sharp and if it is being used to “carve” a stick of celery.

The scar on my finger reminds me of that. I’ve not made that mistake again.

I have other scars that no other person has ever seen. I’ve never seen them myself, but I know they are there. 

Consider this:

I was (and you are) made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27).

God is a spirit (John 4:24).

A spirit is not composed of flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).

The real me is not what you or I see. Since that is the case, any sort of blemish (scar, bruise, etc.) on the real me cannot be seen with the human eye.

However, they are there. I know they are there. I “see” them every time I violate the will of God for my life. 

I rarely think of the scar on my finger. It never hurts. It never causes me any problems whatsoever. 

I think of those other scars a lot. They serve as reminders of sins I hope I never repeat. If I refuse to repent of those sins, I will not receive forgiveness. The consequences of that are far worse than a scar on a finger. Those consequences involve eternal separation from God.

The simple (yet profound) meaning of the word “gospel” is “good news.”

It is good news that we have our sins forgiven when we are baptized into Christ (cf. Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21; etc.) If our repentance was genuine and my confession reflected a real, genuine faith, any “scars” were washed by the blood of Christ.

It is also very good news that there is a continuing remedy for the sins in the lives of all of us imperfect people who are doing our best to live as Christians: “…if we walk in the light, as he (God) is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 ESV, emphasis added)

This may sound a little weird, but whenever I see the scar on my finger, I think of the terrible scars on the body of my Savior. 

…[H]e was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Is. 53:5).

To Receive Every Article from A Legacy of Faith through Email for Free, Click Here

AUTHOR: Jim Faughn

Photo background credit: Stevan Sheets on Creative Commons