What are some of the most memorable times in your life? Your wedding day, maybe the day a child was born? The day that you graduated from College or High School?

All of these are big days and will be a memory that I’m sure you will try to keep in your mind, but I bet even details from these big days might begin to fade a little over time. For example, on my Wedding day there are some details that no matter how hard I try I cannot remember. What food was served? Who was there? What time was it at? No matter how hard I try I just cannot remember those details, all I remember is the church bell ringing the doors opening and the most beautiful creation God ever created walking down the aisle to me and standing in front of me. I don’t remember what was said or if I even knew my name but I guess I did because there are not any stories of it going badly. My point is this: the most glorious day of my life and after almost 16 years there are certain memories that have faded and I just cannot remember.

The interesting thing to me about that is that I have a scar from the 3rd grade that I can tell you every detail about. To include how I received it, who was involved what my parents were doing at the time and I remember it vividly. To be completely honest I remember every scar that I have and how I got it. And I am positive that the four new scars that I have from my latest hospital stay will be forever embedded in my mind and a daily reminder of pneumonia and great infected lung incident of 2014.

Why do we remember the bad and horrible things so easily and on the opposite side of that coin have such troubles remembering the details from days that brought us so much joy? I am afraid that this trend follows us into our spiritual walk all to easily. We are so quick to forget what God has done in our lives but are able to so easily remember the sin that has either been done by us or to us all to well. Of course this is not an uncommon theme from scripture either as we see the Children of Israel are in a constant state of forgetfulness.

So I had to examine this and by no means is this exhaustive but I do after some reading feel this is an example of God’s light and Satan’s deception.

The simple fact is this: anything that impacts us is going to leave a mark. How bad of a mark depends on the object and the force that carries as it impacts us. An example would be a dodge ball and a bullet. The dodge ball may bruise us but after a couple of days you will not be able to tell where it hit, you might remember two weeks later but a year later is very unlikely. On the other hand a bullet will leave a scar that you will have for the rest of your life and I doubt that you will ever forget it.

Now take this analogy to sin. All sin has an impact! It may be like the dodge ball, it might just leave a little mark on your soul that no one can see and is very easily forgotten and reasoned out. Then there are some that are very public and will scar you forever. Scripture tells us in Numbers 32:23 that our sin is against the Lord and it will find us out. That means that it will be exposed and that even if no one on this planet ever finds it out it still leaves a mark. If you do not think that it does remember the beating and crucifixion that Christ experienced for your sin (Luke 22). All sin impacts someone!

And this is where the true battle of memories and scars comes into play. Everyone on this planet has a dark side that is constantly flirting with emotions and feelings and trying to lead you away from God’s path and desires. This “nature” is filled with demons and discouragement that will try to draw you into bad decisions with lies that it is harmless and even comical at times. But this darkness does nothing but promise happiness and freedom only to deliver bondage, death and scars. And for believers this darkness will hound you until you get to heaven so that leaves us with only one choice.

We have to live in the light. We must expose our darkness to the light of Christ if we want it to recoil. We must live in the light of accountability of other believers so that we can have boundaries from the darkness that prevails over this world. When we live in this light we have other believers that can pray for us, we have inspired scripture in the Word that can give us His wisdom and perspectives. We will have fellowship from other scarred believers that can encourage and give us the love we need from our Christian community. The Apostle John says it best this way in 1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

John tells us that the enemy of sin and darkness is the light of Christ. This means that if we will walk away from the dangers of the darkness, if we will live in the light we will also be able to avoid the scars and consequences of the darkness.

We can only gain true joy and authentic relationships by living in the light of Christ and exposing our darkness to one another. This means ripping the band-aid off and allowing the light to heal those wounds. Some will scar and scar not only you but others as well.  However if the purifying light of Christ reaches that scar and exposes your soul to the God of this universe, that scar will be a tool that He uses to glorify His name.  Allowing the creation a joyful memory out of that scar, instead of a festered bitter infectious cancerous diseased sore.

Alone, even the strongest Christian will backslide into their darkness. We must surround ourselves with lovers of the light that will help us expose our darkness so that the scars and memories become more than just a symbol of pain and impact. They become a mark of freedom and in that God’s Kingdom is glorified and Christians all around can rejoice.

TR