In a biography about *Dietrich Bonhoeffer it mentions how it was a "great distinction in German society of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to have had one's face manfully disfigured in a fraternity duel."
The footnotes explain:
"A scar earned in this way was called a schmiss . . . (literally, bragging scar).I'd almost forgot about this until Kieth read a chunk of Hebrews as he lead the devotions at work. In the section he read from a small, but very well known verse stood out and reminded me of this scarring practice.
. . . Bodies and arms were well protected, but as the whole point of this rigmarole was to get a scar and prove one's bravery, faces were not. A hideously gouged cheek or bisected nose would for a lifetime shriek its disfigured bearer's bravery to all and croak his fitness to stand in the noble circle of German elites."
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
Hebrews 4:12
In a flash these two things tied together and the question rang out
Does my life show the markings of having had the Word of God driven, by the Spirit, deeply into my soul, joints and marrow to discerned the thoughts and intentions of my heart?
Surely if this has taken place the changes (scarring) upon my life would be as evident as a schmiss
*Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas (page 43)
