Every Scar Has A Story Series

Clinical psychologist, Dr. Maxwell Maltz, says, “Every hurtful word said by someone you look up to; every humiliating episode; every mistake that you wish you could just forget tends to stay in your mind. If those past experiences are constantly dwelt upon, constantly relived in vivid detail to the point where you actually start feeling the same emotions as before, then you may experience serious emotional scars.”

If you skin your knee, a scab, and possibly a scar appears as a sign the wound has been healed. If you aren’t careful you can ignore emotional wounds and they can fester and become infected. Dr. Maltz writes that forgiveness is the key to turning your emotional scars into strengths. All of us suffer emotional wounds. If you think you may still have open emotional wounds, then I encourage you to seek help from a Christian counselor. Our GraceWorks Ministry exists to help people deal with the wounds of life that are often invisible, but just as painful as physical wounds.

II. SCARS MAY BE SIGNS OF OUR SACRIFICE

Paul was actually pleased with these scars, because they gave testimony to his service and sacrifice for his Lord. He was from England, but moved to the Unite States in the 1950s. He was an evangelist and author, but many consider him to be a true 20th century prophet. He spent his final years in Garden Valley, Texas and when he was a mentor to men like David Wilkerson and Keith Green. He’s buried in Garden Valley next to Keith Green. In one of his books he has a chapter on this passage entitled “Branded for Christ” in which he writes, “Look closely at Paul— at that cadaverous countenance, that scarred body, that stooped figure of a man chastened by hunger, kept down by fasting, and ploughed with the lictor’s lash; that little body, brutally stoned at Lystra; that skin, pickled for thirty-six hours in the Mediterranean Sea! Finally, count in the 199 stripes, 3 shipwrecks, 3 beatings with rods, a stoning, a prison record, and deaths so many that count is lost. And yet if one could add it up, all must be written off as nothing, because Paul himself wrote, ‘Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.’” (Branded for Christ)

What were the meanings of these marks for Paul?

A. The mark of ownership (slave)

In Roman times, a slave was often branded with a hot iron identifying the owner. Paul repeatedly referred to himself as a bond slave of Jesus Christ. So he considered the scars in his body as a mark of ownership. He belonged to Jesus Christ.

In Texas we know what it is to brand cattle. For many years ranchers have branded their cattle with a mark of ownership so if a steer wandered away to another property, the owner could claim it by the brand.

Some northerners bought a ranch in Texas. Friends came to visit and asked, “What’s the name of your ranch?” The new owner said, “I wanted to call it the Bar-J, but my wife wanted to call it the Suzy-Q. My son wanted to name it the Flying-W and my daughter wanted to name it the Lazy – Y.” So we’re calling it the “Bar-J-Suzy-Q-Flying-W-Lazy-Y Ranch.” The neighbor said, “Where are all your cattle?” The rancher said, “So far, none of them survived the branding.”