There are several places on my body that I could point to where I have scars. Whether it be from rapid growth or an accident or an injury, those moments are etched in my body. And each of them tells a story. Like this scar on my hand, it has a story from the summer of 1998 when I worked as a loader at Lowe’s. Or the one just beside my eyebrow from 2006 when I first got into deer hunting and got a little too close to the scope when taking a shot.

As Apostle Paul closes Galatians, he chooses to do so by pointing to his scars. With a measure of grit, he declares in Galatians 6:17, “From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” He’s talking about the scars he had picked up over the years in service to our Savior and Lord. He’d been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and much more. His scars were documentation. Every stripe said, “I belong to Jesus.”

In the ancient world, slaves and soldiers bore marks identifying their master or commander. Paul leans into that. His wounds weren’t stories of defeat. They were proof of allegiance, evidence that he’d given his body and soul to the cause of Christ and hadn’t backed down. His commitment to Christ was clearly evident. The doubters could do nothing but shut their mouths when coming face to face with these silent witnesses.

Is the same true for your life? Your body may not be covered with the scars of your service to Christ, but is your allegiance to Christ clearly evident to those who watch you?

Or perhaps you are covered with scars, but they are unseen on your soul from your seasons of stretching and rapid growth or wounds inflicted by others or those self-inflicted injuries where you found out the hard way. Perhaps there are wounds you’d rather hide.

But never forget that these scars all tell s a story, and part of that story is the grace that carried you through, that held you together, that healed you, and gave you a story of overcoming to tell.

Those marks testify to the power of Jesus. Looking back, thank God for those storied scars! And may you tell their stories to the glory of Christ!

Change begins in you!