“Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:27–28).
Some people are saying the war between Israel and Hamas is finally over, and now we can enjoy peace. But because of human nature, the beliefs of radical Islam, and the biblical vision of lasting peace, which will only be achieved when Yeshua returns, we know that this ceasefire is only a temporary reprieve.
…our scars can become the most beautiful, redemptive things about us: a visual, though still painful, reminder of the all-surpassing power of God’s redemptive love.
Now comes the time in Israel to come to terms with the magnitude of our trauma and to begin licking our wounds. But how can we fully recover when we still see the faces of beloved family and friends so viciously murdered? When we recount all the precious memories of our fallen soldiers? And what of the broken marriages and failed businesses left in the wake of a two year war?
The truth is, we will never be the same. We will all bear lasting scars. Yet herein lies the beauty of these verses from John’s Gospel: it is the scars on our Savior’s resurrected body that make Him so beautiful, for the wounds that caused those scars brought the world redemption.
Although some scars are truly forever, they don’t have to make us ugly, bitter, or hard. If we commit the wounds that caused our scars to our Heavenly Father, with faith “that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God” (Rom 8:28), our scars can become the most beautiful, redemptive things about us: a visual, though still painful, reminder of the all-surpassing power of God’s redemptive love.
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen 50:20).
