The Scars of a Father's Love

One afternoon, a young boy decided to go swimming in a shallow lake near his home in Florida. Just after he jumped in and started to swim, his father noticed an alligator and began calling to his son.

The alligator began to come toward the boy and the boy saw him. He began to swim toward the bank, his father calling out to him to swim toward where he was.

About the time the father reached the boy, so did the alligator. The father grabbed his son by the arms and the alligator clamped down on his legs. The father clawed at his son’s arms to keep him from being dragged off by the alligator.

A neighbor heard the commotion and ran with a gun, shot the alligator, and the father pulled his son to safety. During the interviews about the incident, the reports were showing the cuts on the boy’s legs.

When he asked how he felt with all those bite marks and scars, the boy showed his arms to the reporters and said, “These are the most important scars. These scars show where my father fought for me and held on to me; they remind me that if it hadn’t been for my father, I would have been killed.”

We can’t always understand about some of the scars that touch our lives. To us, they’re hard to understand, but God knows. It may be sometime later, but eventually we will realize that our Heavenly Father was holding onto us and calling, “Come to me,” as he rushed to save us from the worst scarring of our life.

Today, the alligators of the world may be trying to destroy you. Only your Heavenly Father can save you through the scars that His Son bore for you because of the sin of the world. Jesus steps in between you and whatever you are facing and says, “Hold on! I will never let you go! You will make it! I will fight for you!

“The Father will pull you into His arms and heal your scars. Our Heavenly Father can do more than any earthly father; just turn toward Him and He will be there!”