No one comes through life unscathed. You have wounds, as I do. And so does the person who seems to have it all together. Some wounds come through sins other people commit against us. Some come because of our own choices or behaviors. Thankfully Jesus is all about ministering healing to us regardless of where our wounds came from.

Some wounds are obvious, deep, and visible. For others their wounds are hidden and unseen, but no less limiting. Chronic wounds, “death by a thousand cuts,” may, for many, feel the most overwhelming. And whatever their flavor, most of us expend considerable energy trying to make our wounds less visible and more presentable.

Jesus doesn’t care about making our wounds pretty; He’s about healing them. “By his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). When He was here on earth humans got a taste of what things are like when “the kingdom of God is here” (Mark 1:15). A key part of that was how Jesus went about touching and healing everyone who came to Him (Luke 4:40).

Healing is just one of the important things Jesus is still doing in those who come to Him today.

Some hear that and scramble to find the right prayer, the right preacher, the right ritual to “make” Jesus heal them instantly from something distressing. And there are moments when He does! Hallelujah!

And others hear that and say, “That was then; this is now. Jesus doesn’t do that today.”

This is a nuanced and challenging discussion. But the New Testament has too much to say about healing for us to ignore it. And there are too many testimonies from Christians today, including my own, to accept that Jesus doesn’t heal today. This is not only, or even primarily, a physical thing; it’s about every dimension of our being.

Steps Toward Healing

I’m always a bit nervous about outlining steps; it could make it sound like your healing is up to you, believing if you learn the right things, do the right things, pray the right way, you’ll be fine. But Jesus doesn’t work that way. He’s God, after all. We will never fully understand – let alone control – Him. If we could, we’d imagine we are the healers. But that role is reserved for Jesus Himself.

That said, there are very powerful and important things we do to cooperate with the healing Jesus wants to accomplish in us. That looks like:

• Look under the surface. Light heals. Most of the roots of your woundedness are below the waterline of your regular awareness. It’s worth dedicated time and energy to explore the hidden landscape of your soul and bring it into the light. The Holy Spirit often brings us through repeated “rounds” of healing as we gain enough strength and maturity to address another portion of our woundedness.
• Find your people. Other people cannot heal you, but God designed healing to come in community (James 5:16). For example, a key aspect of the healing the woman who touched Jesus’ garments experienced was in the telling of her story (Mark 5:33-34). The very circuits in your brain will change as you allow one or a few others to “hold the Christ light for you.”
• Invite Jesus in. Jesus doesn’t work by remote telehealth; He needs to be invited in. Because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), He can be present in those key hurtful moments in your past just as much as He is with you today. Jesus isn’t magic; He is a Person. But things change when He shows up!

You can cooperate with Jesus in your healing!

Healed Scars

What is the outcome of your healing? What can you expect?

There are times Jesus simply removes the wound or struggle from you, but that’s not His usual way of working. Most of the time He works through a process by taking the wound that’s open, raw, infected, and bleeding, and turning it into a healed scar. The sting truly is gone.

For those who have experienced deep wounds, horrendous trauma that keeps interfering with your life and your joy, this can seem like an impossible dream. But there are too many examples, both from Scripture and from people today, to discount this reality.

The past – what happened to you, and/or what you did or didn’t do in response – can truly lose its hold on you. This is not white knuckling it, pretending it didn’t matter. It did matter! A lot! But the healing process so integrates both the reality of what happened and its impact on you that you’re truly free. Jesus’ healing so transforms the meaning your story carries that you become truly grateful – not for the wounds, but for the scars that result and for how you experience Jesus in this process.

Sacred Scars

The scars you accumulate as a result of your healed wounds become precious, valuable, sacred, just as the scars Jesus carries in His human body will be His glory – and ours – throughout eternity.

Biblically, the limp Jacob walked with after His encounter with the Angel allowed him to stand before Pharoah without insecurity, and actually bless him (Genesis 47:10). Paul’s past became so healed he could talk about it throughout his ministry and record it for all Christians to read about and be inspired by (Acts 26:9-22, Galatians 1:14-15),

As your scars become healed they will become exhibit A, evidence that God is Who He says He is, that Jesus is alive, and of what He can do and is still doing today. Those scars will be the foundation of God’s purpose for you in the world. They will draw others to you – and most importantly to Jesus.

I have become grateful for my scars. I would not be who am I, or have any ministry to others, without the wounds and traumas I experienced and without the healing process Jesus has done in me.

Keep going! Let Jesus minister His healing to your woundedness.

Your turn: Where have you experienced Jesus healing your woundedness? What helped that happen? Where do you still need His healing now?  Leave a comment below.

Want more? This week’s podcast is a wonderful conversation with Avery and Zion Montgomery about our human nature as body, soul, and spirit. And you will enjoy Zion’s Believer’s Wellness Wheel. Listen or watch.

Tweetables: why not share this post:

• We all experience wounds, some visible and some invisible. Jesus is all about healing every one of them. The resulting scars we carry become our ministry, our glory, just as Jesus’ scars do.  Tweet that.

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