Do You Have Any Identification?

As I grew from boy to man on 40 acres of undeveloped land, I enjoyed the finest in entertainment activities.

I could ride a bike, climb trees, have nuclear war with my brother (using the approved weapons of course - the dirt clod, the chinaberry or plum, and the dreaded hickory nut), shoot BB guns, play baseball and football, and just have a good time. Later on when we were older, we rode motorcycles, played church softball and basketball, and went hunting and fishing.

We have few if any pictures to look at and reflect on those times we had. We had school pictures, Easter and Christmas pictures, but none of the two of us just living.

But I do have a physical way of remembering many of the things that happened in my life through the years. They are always with me. During the time of the Vietnam war draft, they served as my identification - what made me different than any of the other 18 year old boys worried about going off to war. Of course I've added new ones since then, life goes on after all. Now every now and then I happen to rub or scrape one and I'm brought back to the day it happened - to exactly what I was doing, just how it felt, what others did to help me, and how it all turned out. What were they?

My scars.

If the draft board had come looking for me, they'd have picked me out of a crowd by my scars.

We're looking at ministry this week as we study the Purpose Driven Life, and so I picked up on Paul's reluctance to be drawn off into side issues - issues of practice, not of faith. People had come to the church in Galatia saying that faith in Christ wasn't enough. You needed a "badge" to let the world know.

Paul let them know how they could tell he followed Christ.

Galatians 6:17 (Msg)
Quite frankly, I don't want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do—the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.

Scars.

Jesus had said, "They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another." But loving one another is risky business. Even in ministry, people can hurt one another so deeply it leaves scars. Someone once told me "I've never been hurt as badly or as often than at church."

Friends, I've been there and done that. I could dwell on those, keep rubbing those scars, and get nothing done. Or I could thank God that He counted me worthy to be His ambassador for Christ and stay in the game.

I won't be called on to write any New Testament books, but in the serious living of this faith, I'm with Paul. If you've been hurt, wounded, even scarred while trying to serve Christ, just count your scars as a measure of identification.

When the Master comes looking for His disciples, you'll be easy to spot.

Grace!

David Wilson

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.