Dear Friends,
The spiritual truth at the heart of Christianity is the best remedy for sadness, but it only works when we believe this truth, when we remind ourselves of it daily, and when we apply it to our hearts until they are transformed by it.
The truth I’m speaking about is this: The wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ were his greatest source of suffering but they became his greatest source of healing for others.
On the Sunday after Easter, when we focus on the experience of Thomas, the doubting disciple, the wounds of Jesus are prominent. But please notice something very important: The way he relates to his wounds is radically different from the way we typically relate to ours.
At some point, life wounds us all, and sometimes the wounds cut into the marrow of our bones and the arteries of our hearts. We get wounded by loss, betrayal, sickness, disappointment, rejection, failure, defeat, and so much else.
And what is our response? So often we fall into self-pity, into anger and depression, into hurting others, into comparing our hard road with someone else’s easy street.
But look at Jesus. There’s no self-pity, anger, or sadness in him. In his relationship with Thomas, his wounds are his greatest asset.
When we stop lamenting the ways that life has hurt us and instead begin to see our wounds as our greatest gifts, our entire perspective on who we are and what we have to give changes.
If there is any remedy for sadness in life it’s this: Embrace your own wounds as Jesus embraced his, and then become a wounded healer for others, as he did.
This Sunday at Community Church of Providence could be the one that changes everything for you.
With the risen Lord in our midst, good things are bound to happen.
Your friend in him,
Evan