The Scars of Christ

Isaiah 53:2-3 is one of the few passages in the Bible that describe Jesus' physical appearance. It says, "...he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

Christ is a sufficient advocate for us because he has endured all that we have and more. Christ was physically unattractive, he was later betrayed by his own friends, mocked on the cross, painfully beaten, abandoned, and then died a long, greuling, unjust death sentence. How encouraging it is to lay our burdens at the feet of a Savior who has suffered!

I used to be ashamed of my face until I realized that Christ -- after being beaten, punched, bruised, and having a sharp crown of thorns wedged deep into his forehead -- must have had a face as full of scars as I do! I feel a precious bond with my Savior knowing that of all the afflictions he could have chosen for me, he chose one so close to his own sufferings.

I don't even care if he gives me a new face when I get to Heaven. What will it matter? If I am beautiful in His eyes, what power will any mirror hold over me?