Though our scars don’t ultimately define us, Jesus’ scars do. By his bruises, we have been healed—once and for all. We can look at his scars for our hope in the troubling moments of our life, while also recognizing that our mission is to go towards the broken and scarred places in our world. Nothing is outside of God’s redemptive power.

What makes Christianity unique is that Jesus is the one God who actually comes out of the pages of mythology. He comes out of the legends of bygone tales, and is born in a time and place we know, while Caesar Augustus reigned, and while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and Herod ruled Judea. Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected within history. The other gods can’t do that, they are bound in the books in which they reside. They are prisoners of ink and paper.

This psalm begs us to put down the mask and stop running away. At some point, we need to face the music.

A repentant life, therefore, is marked by such characteristics as gratitude and grace. We have sinned, yet our Lord does not desire the

When we look in the mirror, we should see glimmers of God’s grace that has shaped who we are (and who we are to become) in Christ. We are