Standing Empty Handed at the Cross

In John 20:20 the account is given of when Jesus appears to His disciples after His resurrection. The passage says that He showed them His scars. Not His wounds, but His scars. That’s how it works. Life gives us wounds, God gives us healing, and while we will have scars especially if the wound was a deep one, we are not left with a festering open wound unless we won’t leave it alone. Yes, your mother was right when she told you “Don’t pick at that!” If we accept God’s healing, the wound will heal, but by allowing other people to see our scars they are able to see
God glorified through the wound we suffered. Just as Jesus showed His scars to His disciples, we owe it to each other to not hide behind our “church faces”, but to show each other our scars so that God may be glorified! I love the book, The Scarlet Letter. Wow! That's a powerful book once you get past all of the Old English and vocabulary. Hester and Dimmesdale are perfect examples of what happens when we try to handle our sin ourselves. We are destroyed in the process. Why do we find it so hard to let go of the past and allow it to be what it is - the past. Jesus calls us to daily pick up our cross and follow Him, but how can I if my hands are so full of my own baggage? Imagine packing every suitcase you own, carrying them all at once and then trying to pick up my cross and carry it too!?! In order to carry my cross I have to first lay down all my own baggage. Sometimes we have trouble doing that because our baggage is so comfortable. Don't get me wrong, we usually don't like what it contains - the pain, the tears - but at least we are use to it. It's not part of the great unknown out there. We know what to expect from it and we've grown accustomed to it. It provides us with all our excuses for why we can't be all He has called us to be. Isn't it strange how we pray to God to take away our pain, but then reach out and grab it back from Him. The challenge is to lay it all down at the cross and walk away empty handed so we can pick up our cross. It's not a one time decision, it's a daily choice. Every day we must go to the cross and begin there by laying down our burdens and picking up our cross. That's why the scripture says to deny ourselves and pick up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). Jesus promises in Matt. 11:28-30 that if we will come to Him and lay our burdens down, He will give us rest. He calls us to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him for He is gentle and humble in heart and there our souls will find rest. He promises that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, not because He demands less of us, but because He carries the load with us!