Devotion 2: By His Wounds

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. – Isaiah 53:3-5

Kids are kind of funny about their injuries. For example; I had a little guy the other day that was throwing ice up in the air and trying to catch it (I did give him warnings to stop but he continued when I was focused on something else). Eventually, he threw it at just the wrong angle and it fell down not in his hands, but right on his forehead. It cut open his head just a little and scared him a lot. He came over to me with big crocodile tears and wanted to go home, never wanted to play at recess again, and thought winter was the worst. After I had made sure the cut was not serious and was all cleaned up, I got down on his level and told him: “Wow that sure is an awesome battle scar you have there. Wait until you tell your friends and brothers that you got a cut on your head protecting Miss Nikodym from the evil ice at recess.” All it took was those two simple sentences and that recess was the best of his life. He showed that little cut to the lunch ladies, the janitor, the aides, and any other student that would listen. I kind of think Jesus was funny about His scars too. Jesus is and was so strong and so mighty… there is nothing My Jesus cannot do. It would have been no problem at all for Him to raise from the dead without a scar to be seen, but that isn’t what He did, and I am so very glad He didn’t. Jesus went to see His disciples and showed them His hands, His feet, and His side…. Why? So that they could see the scars that he had from the nails and the spears. He even had Thomas put His hands in those scars so that he could believe that he had truly risen. And what did the disciples do after that? They went and told everyone they could about the scars they had seen. Just like my little guy with his playground cut… they told the lunch ladies. They told the janitors. They told the students. They told their parents. In a great blessing, those people told others and those people told others until eventually… someone told me about those scars. The amazing thing about the story of those scars is that it wasn’t a made-up story about protecting the teacher from the ice. It was a true and real story about protecting Miss Nikodym from her from sin, death, and devil. Those scars show that the death that I certainly deserve was already died for me. Those scars are a real story of grace and love! So next time that you hear a story from a little one about their boo-boo don’t forget the greatest boo-boo that Christ received for you.

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• Devotion 3- A Happy Heart →