I have a long scar on my left elbow and another one on my hip. They mark the spots where a surgeon went in and fixed something. When I see those scars I can either be disgusted because they are unsightly or I can remember how things were before the surgeries. They are a reminder of how something wrong was made right. I can choose to see them in a different perspective if I remember why they are there.
You could argue that not all scars are from positive changes. Not all scars were the result of a choice to improve your situation. There are some scars that are a result of horrible mistreatment. Or perhaps they are emotional scars from abuse that no one can see but you. Even those scars can be seen in a different light if you decide to allow it. Some scars from unspeakable events still have a positive side. They are symbols of survival. Whatever it was that caused the scar did not win. You survived and have the marks to prove it.
I have another very long scar from an unplanned C-section. It is a reminder of a time when God safely delivered my precious Alex whose life was in danger. When I see that scar I think of the miracle of his birth and how God rescued my premature baby. I will wear that scar with joy because my baby was saved.
Jesus bears His own scars. It wasn’t because He needed something fixed. It was because you did. He bears the scars for something that you needed in order to spend eternity with Him. When He see those scars He remembers that evil caused them but evil didn’t win. When He looks at His scars, He sees you and He has no regrets.
“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,” – 1 Peter 3:18(NASB)