By His Wounds

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 94, By His Wounds.

I want you to hear this slowly. Let it settle all the way down.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." First Peter, two and twenty-four.

He himself. Nobody handed it to Him. Nobody forced His hand. He took it — in His own body, onto the tree. The weight was voluntary. And that changes everything.

Because Peter isn't talking about sin as some vague cloud hanging over humanity in general. He says our sins. What hung on that cross had your name on it. Mine too. That specific shame you carry in the quiet hours when you can't sleep — it was there. He took it. He himself.

And why? Peter tells us the purpose plainly — and this is where the gospel never leaves you standing still in forgiveness. It always calls you forward. The cross has a direction: that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Forgiveness isn't just the cancellation of a debt. It's the beginning of a different life. God didn't lift the old weight off your shoulders so you could stand at the edge of the road staring at the hole where it used to be. He lifted it so you could walk.

And then comes the holiest paradox that has ever existed. His bruises became our balm. Think about that. Heaven's deepest healing was distilled into the very wounds He refused to avoid. He could have come down from that cross. He stayed. And from the marks that remained in that risen body flows our most profound wholeness — not just of the body, but of the soul, of identity, of that place inside you where you wonder, quietly, who you really are.

Peter then completes the picture with an image that reaches somewhere deep: we were straying like sheep, each going our own way. Lost — not always from outright rebellion, but from distraction, from fear, from just being tired. But now we have returned. Returned to the Shepherd of our souls. And notice: the healing doesn't end in a doctrine. It ends in belonging. You weren't healed to be left alone out there. You were brought back to be with Him.

That brings me to you, this morning.

If He bore your sins by name, then you can name them too. Not to punish yourself. Not in shame. But with the freedom of someone who knows they've already been redeemed — and who no longer has to carry what He already carried.

So today — do this one thing. Name a habit that belongs to your old life. A pattern you know doesn't fit who you're becoming. Say it out loud to God: "This is not mine anymore." And then take one small, concrete step away from it — not tomorrow, this morning.

His wounds already did the heaviest lifting. Your part is to walk in the healing He bought.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.