He was wounded to heal yours

Many of us have been wounded by various things in life, as a result of our own sins or those of others. These wounds range from cuts and scrapes to deep, weeping sores that threaten to be fatal. And so many of us walk around just trying to live with these wounds, to manage as best we can, to just grit our teeth and live through the pain.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties I tried to self-medicate to deal with the pain of my wounds. Through alcohol and sexual relationships, I tried to fix my suffering. The problem was, everything I tried only numbed the pain superficially, enough for me to function in public. Deep down I was still incapacitated by emotional pain. And worse still, untreated, my wounds festered. My sins festered, and caused me more harm.

When I fumbled my way back to God, I finally cleaned up my wounds and washed them out. Some of the infection was cleared up, and then I bandaged those wounds tightly. That's what I thought I had to do. Just keep them clean and protected and our of the way.

I experienced some healing, but not fully. While I didn't suffer from constant pain, the wounds were still there. I still couldn't live fully. Those bandages stopped me getting hurt more, but they also did what they do best - I was bound and restricted. I couldn't move freely, I couldn't love freely.

I began to realise that I needed more than bandages. That I needed to uncover my wounds and let them be healed.

This is not about exposing our wounds and poking and prodding around in there on our own. We don't know what we are doing, we'll probably just cause more bleeding and damage and be prone to falling back to self medicating to numb the pain we have reawakened.

There is a doctor who knows exactly how to heal our wounds. Someone who has been wounded Himself to heal us.

When we put down the things we use to ignore or numb the pain, when we stop relying on the bandages that protect but restrict us, when we stop trying to figure out how to heal ourselves - then we can take our wounds to God.

Jesus was wounded for us, so that we could be healed. He bears the scars so that we don't have to.

God can heal your wounded life, no matter how deep, no matter how painful the sin, hurt and rejection, and leave you with a whole, full life, free from restriction, free from scars.

Jesus took it all on the cross for us; he was rejected and punished and he suffered for us. Not just for our physical suffering, but for our emotional and spiritual lives, so that nothing could any longer separate us from the healing love in Gods presence.

...he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
Isaiah 53:5