Melissa Small supports her husband, Rusty, in his ministry as a pastor at Liberty Baptist Church while raising her 2 boys, James and Thomas. She also serves as the women’s ministry leader and on the worship team at her church. She has a passion for women growing deeper in their knowledge of God’s Word and fostering a supportive Christian community among women. A doctorate in Education and Christian Leadership aids in accomplishing these goals through teaching, mentoring, and Bible study.
“What are you doing?”, I asked my 5-year-old as I walked into the dining room. It was a rhetorical question because I could see the marker on his hands as he furious scribbled away. I more so meant, “why are you coloring on your hands?” As I looked more closely, I realized it was isolated to the palms of his hands and told him to put the marker away and wash his hands. The marker was permanent, so it did not wash off. Later, I walked into the living room where he sat with his feet straight out in front of him. I asked what the red dots were on his feet. It was then that he answered my original question. “Mom, I wanted to be more like Jesus, so I put red marks on my hands and feet to match His where they drove the nails into His hands and feet.”
Emotions swelled immediately. I felt joy at the notion that he was self-performing body graffiti for a good cause, to give himself nail-scared hands and feet like His Savior. I thought about the fact that most of us do not like to have scars. We would rarely add them willingly. We believe scars leave something once beautiful less than whole, tarnished. But what do Jesus’ scars teach us about the scars that an imperfect world can leave on our bodies, in our lives, and on our hearts?
I read recently about the process of restoring art and how the process is even more valued when incredible beauty is lost and brought back to its original splendor. The parallel for the beauty that exists when we are brought back to God’s original creation, pure and splendid, God’s majestic workmanship, increases our value because we were lost and now are found and restored. What an amazing God who would do this for us! To bring Himself to a place of torture and ridicule, to bear our sins and suffering, to bear permanent scars to restore us from ugliness to His original beautiful design and creation in right fellowship with Him! He is an amazing and loving God.
May we show gratitude in all that we do to serve and live for Him. It is by His scars and stripes of blood that we are healed. He left His scars to tell a story, a story of what He was willing to do to make us whole and bring belief in Him. “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe”. (John 20:27) May we be grateful for the beauty that scars can bring, whether they be superficial or internal, as we look to perfect healing found only in the story behind His scars and His redeeming blood!
