Love Wounds

Last Sunday afternoon, my six-year-old granddaughter Olive asked to warm up a can of green beans on our stove. Since she often helps her mom cook, we agreed. While supervising her, I had to briefly step away. In my absence, she leaned a bit too close to the stove and poof! In a moment, her dress erupted into flames. She started screaming and I quickly put out the fire with my hands. In the process, my palm was painfully burned; but thankfully Olive was uninjured. We all walked away learning a significant lesson: don't leave a young child near an open flame. Duh! A few seconds longer, and her hair could easily have caught fire. In a way, I may have saved her life. Her mom told her to thank me, and she muttered a cursory "Thank you", and skipped off on her merry way. 

For the rest of the afternoon I nursed my burned hand, clutching ice and dousing it with aloe vera. Then a fascinating phenomenon emerged. A large blister formed on my palm in the perfect shape of a Valentine heart. I showed it to Olive, but in typical six-year-old style, she simply glanced at it and walked away unimpressed. But if you're a parent, you know I'd do it again in a heartbeat, willingly enduring the pain.

Without sounding like too much of a hero, isn't that what Jesus did for us? He put out the "fire" in our lives; the sin that was destroying us (Romans 5:6-8). And in the process, he acquired "love wounds", as did I. His love wound wasn't a measly blister, but a huge spike-sized hole in each hand. He was willing to "take the heat" for us, paying our penalty, by enduring the most painful form of death known to the ancient world. Without hesitation, we know he'd do it again in a heartbeat! Hebrews 12:2 states that he endured the cross "for the joy set before him”. To Jesus, it was an honor to die for us. In a tiny way, I can relate. I was honored to be the one to bear "love wounds" for my granddaughter!

How many times do we react to his sacrifice in the same ho-hum Olive-style? It's not that she's ungrateful. She's a six-year-old kid who doesn't really appreciate what I did for her. We're thankful for what Jesus did; but then skip off on our merry way, moving on to more "important" matters, forgetting the huge price he paid for us, and the "love wounds" he acquired for us. Pause right now and thank God for his "love wounds".