Scars in Heaven: A 3-Day Devotional With Casting CrownsSample

When we lose a loved one, the grief can be so painful and overwhelming that we don’t know where to turn. I’ve heard people in deep grief say it literally hurt to breathe. Only God’s Word has the strength to bear up under such weight.

Luke 24:36-43 really grabbed my heart and helped spark this song. After Jesus rises from the dead, he appears to his disciples in the Upper Room. He reveals the marks of crucifixion in his hands and feet to show that he is a living being and not an apparition. Jesus has to prove himself because of the disciples’ reaction when they first see him standing in the middle of a locked room without walking through an open door.

When Jesus tells them, “Peace be with you,” they do not have a file in their heads for what is happening. They saw him crucified. They saw him buried. And now he’s back. How? No one comes back from the dead. While they’re processing the moment, Jesus comforts them by showing them what? The risen Savior still has something to remind them of where He was and who He is. He shows them His scars.

When I read that passage, a thought hit me. I said to myself, “Oh wow. Jesus still has the scars.” Jesus was already in his glorified body in the Upper Room and yet He still had the scars. That’s exactly the reason we don’t have pain in heaven—because He took it all. His scars are there to remind us why all the heartache is not. They forever will be a constant reminder of how we even got there to be with Him.

When we lose someone, our faith and comfort will come from the Father. It’s not going to come from something or someone here on Earth. All we see are reminders that we no longer have our loved ones. We have to ask God to help us release our ideas of who we knew that loved one to be in their flesh, and we have to focus on who they are now. They are with Jesus. They have a glorified body just like their Savior. And they are being held by the hands that bear the only scars in Heaven.