Burned

Cooktops, ovens, grills, toasters, hair irons, and clothes irons are helpful conveniences we have that serve us well. They are harmless appliances until heated, and if not used with caution, they can cause burns and leave lingering scars. I know because most of those listed bear my DNA, even though used cautiously. Some of the marks from decades ago are still faintly visible.  

As servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, we sometimes get burned or maybe just a little singed doing the Lord’s work. But the injuries that made your wounds and mine pale compared to Paul’s and the many other heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. Paul often needed to defend his apostleship, but his proof of service was in the scars he bore in serving the Lord: “. . . For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Galatians 6:17b

Paul’s stoning, beatings, shipwreck, weariness, lack of basic life necessities, and the burden he had for God’s people (2 Cor 11:24–25) stamped indelible marks on his life. Your service to the Lord may have left you scarred as well, or maybe it’s something you did wrong or something you should have done that you haven’t done, and you are dealing with fresh wounds. Sin wounds and scars our lives, but Jesus can heal burned spirits, broken hearts, people-caused wounds, and self-inflicted ones. Scars remind us of God’s faithfulness and forgiveness and sometimes where we’ve been and should be now.