“I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” — Galatians 6:17

Scars are strange things. They’re permanent reminders of wounds we’ve endured. Every scar tells a story — the line across your knuckle, the mark on your knee, the faded white streak on your arm. You can point to it and say, “That’s where I fell. That’s where I fought. That’s where I almost didn’t make it — but I survived.”

But it’s not just our bodies that scar. Our souls carry them too. Words spoken in anger. A betrayal from a friend. A relationship that broke apart. Failures that left you ashamed. These scars are easier to hide, but they shape us even more deeply than the ones on our skin. And the temptation is to bury them, pretending they never happened.

Yet Paul didn’t hide his scars — he boasted in them. He saw them not as shameful, but as proof of endurance and belonging to Christ. They testified that he had been through battles and lived to tell the story.

The same is true for you. Your scars are not disqualifications. They are your testimony. They prove the wound did not win. They declare that God’s grace was stronger than the blow that struck you.

Think of Peter. His scar was denial — three times he insisted he never knew Jesus. That failure could have haunted him forever. But Jesus restored him, three times asking, “Do you love Me?” And Peter’s scar became his platform. The same man who denied Christ in fear stood boldly in Jerusalem and preached the gospel to thousands.

Even Jesus carried scars after the resurrection. They were not erased. He invited Thomas to touch His hands and His side. Why? Because His scars were not signs of defeat — they were the evidence of victory.

Brother, stop hiding your scars. Don’t despise them. Let them tell the story of God’s faithfulness. Because one day, another man will need to see your scars to believe he can survive his own.

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