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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

“The Scars Remain"

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Once there was a little boy who every time he did something wrong, noticed his father driving a nail into a board.  One day the little boy went to his father and asked him what he was doing.  The father told him that he was keeping a record of all the things he did wrong.  The little boy told him that he was sorry for the things he had done and his father told him that he was forgiven.  The little boy asked him what he was going to do about all those nails he had driven into that board.  The father started pulling the nails out and when he had finished, the little boy noticed all the nail holes that were left in the board.  This concerned him, so he asked his father what he was going to do about all those nail holes.  His father told him that the nail hole would have to remain.

The Lord Jesus Christ, when He took the sins of the whole world upon Himself, died upon the cross for all our sins.  The Bible tells us that after He had been buried and arose the third day, He appeared unto the disciples.  There was one who had doubts as to if He was real.  Thomas said, "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe."  John 20:25.  Jesus said to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing."  John 20:27.  The scars remained.

The Apostle Paul reckoned himself to be chief among sinners and he had indeed done a lot of wrong and through the wonderful grace and mercy of God, he became one of if not the greatest proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ there has ever been.  It is a known fact that the God uses those who seem to have been the worst sinners who have come to know the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour in very great ways and yet though they have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, men so often won't except that forgiveness because they still bear the scars of the rough lives they have led. 

It is bad that the world looks upon those who carry the scars of their past as reason to lay blame on them, but it is truly sad when God's own children look down on their brethren and judge them.  There seems to be a very good reason for this and yet, the solution for some may never become evident until this life is over.  One of the main reasons that some Christians can't seem to fully forgive other Christians is that they have been forgiven little.  That is, some have been fortunate enough to have been brought up in situations whereby they were protected from the world and the wiles of the devil.  They have led lives which by the worlds' standards was fairly righteous.  When these were saved, they were forgiven little.  So what they are actually doing without knowing is placing limits upon the grace of God.  If God's grace had limits on it, no one else could be saved, because I would have used it all up when He saved me.  Now, those who were forgiven little may not have many scars and yet I on the other hand have many scars, but who is saved the most?  Hebrews 7:25 says, "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."  This "He" the Bible is talking about is Jesus Christ who is God Himself who offered Himself upon the cross for all the sins of all who would but believe upon Him. 

It's kind of like someone who has never lost a child trying to console someone who has lost one of their very own.  They can say with their mouth and fully mean well that they understand what that person is going through, but they cannot ever truly feel the hurt that they are going through.  There is pain and hurt that words and thoughts cannot fathom.

When I was lost, I had tattoos put on my arms that I am not  proud of.  When the Lord saved me, the tattoos stayed on my arms and even though I spent a lot of money trying to have one of them removed,  they are still there.  When people see those tattoos, they tend to associate them with who I am.  I wear long sleeve shirts as much as possible to cover them up and yet there are some who would consider me a hypocrite for trying to cover them up.  Though I have never heard anyone come right out and say it, sometimes I get the feeling some would have me to cut my arms off in order to appear saved.  These are but a few of the scars that I must carry and if it were not for the fact that I believe so strongly the Word of God, there are those who would lead me to believe that I am not saved.  "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."  Romans 10:13.   The Word of God is all that I have to go on and I believe it. 

Do you have scars?  Do you know someone who has scars?   If you have believed God's Word and you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, please don't be discouraged by men, but trust His assurance when His Word assures, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."  1 John 3:1-2.  Friends, God's Word is the only truth there is. Those that would have you to believe that if you are not perfect, you are not saved, are badly deceived.