Tattooed
“Can a mother forget the
infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers
forget, I’d never forget you — never. Look, I’ve written your names on the
backs of my hands. The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight. Your
builders are faster than your wreckers. The demolition crews are gone for good.
Look up, look well!” (Isaiah 49:15-18)
Tattoo parlors could
probably use a sign over the entrance; something like, "Think before you
ink." Or, maybe a recorded voice playing in the background, "Do you really want to wear her name on your
knuckles for the rest of your life?" Maybe even a full-time employee whose
singular job is to remind the customers, "The tattoo artist doesn’t come
with a delete key."
Professional
athletes set the standard for "oops" tattoos. On the cheek of one NBA
star is the letter “P.” He’s a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. There’s just one problem
– the “P” was stenciled backward. Maybe he did it himself using a mirror.
Another player tattooed an exact replica of his girlfriend's lips on his neck.
Fire-engine red. A perma-kiss. I hope he and his sweetheart stay together
because another woman is going to think twice about snuggling up to the image
of his former girlfriend's lips. One football player tattooed the word “Gods” on
one triceps and “Gift” on the other. Not only was he lacking humility, but he
also forgot the apostrophe in the word, “Gods.” He could have used a
proofreader.
These
same parlors can remove the mistakes, mind you. For the right price they can
get the bad ink out of your skin. Painful and expensive, and sometimes
requiring multiple trips, but effective if you want to remove the unwanted
marks from your past. And who doesn't? You may not have tattoos, but you probably
have regrets. You don't have a permanent souvenir from a Cancun spring-break,
but you have the memories of one. You didn't embed her name in your shoulder,
or his name on your thigh. Still, you feel remorse over the words said, or –
perhaps – the deeds done. Guilt leaves a tattooed heart.
If
your unresolved guilt manifested itself in tattoos, how much ink would we see?
What images would you see in the mirror? The face of someone you hurt? The
amount of money you squandered? All the could'ves
and the should'ves in life. "I
could've been a better mom." "I should've paid more attention."
Dig around in the basement of our souls, and what do we find? Wasted years.
Perversions. Destructive diversions. Anger at parents, or exes. Selfishness.
Arrogance. Racial slurs. We've cheated on exams, and cheated on friends. The
consequences can be ugly. Unresolved guilt gives birth to a gaggle of unhealthy
emotions.
Most of them fit
under one of two headings: defensiveness or defeat. Defensive souls keep the
skeleton in the closet. Tell no one. Admit nothing. Seek innocence, not
forgiveness. Life is reduced to one aim: suppress the secret. Failures go
unaddressed and untreated. Defensive souls build walls around the past.
Defeated souls, on the other hand, are defined by their past. They didn't make
mistakes; they are the mistakes. They
didn't foul up; they are foul-ups.
They don't hide the past; they wear it on their sleeves. They flog themselves
with doubt and shame. Is guilt having its way with you? If so, consider this
promise: "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and
make you as clean as freshly fallen snow." (Isa. 1:18)
God specializes
in guilt removal. He can do what no one else can: extract every last mark from
your soul. When people come to God through faith in Jesus, they receive the
greatest of all blessings: grace for all
of their sins. Jesus issues a pardon for every
act of rebellion. This grace is a gift. We don't earn it. We can't lose it. But
we can forget it. And if we're not careful, we can become guilt-laden.
Even as
Christians we need to regulate our guilt dosage. Granted, guilt is God's idea.
He uses it the way highway engineers use Botts’
Dots. When we stray from of our lane, they call us back. Guilt does the
same. It leaves us "more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more
reverent, more human, more passionate, and more responsible." (2 Cor.
7:11) Guilt alerts us to the discrepancies between what we are and what God
desires. It stirs repentance and renewal. In appropriate doses, guilt is a
blessing. In unmonitored dosages, however, guilt is an unbearable burden. We can’t
carry it. But God can.
A graphic
tradition from the old covenant shows us exactly how God does it. Three
thousand years ago the Hebrew people were given an annual opportunity to watch
their guilt being taken away. Each year as part of the Day of Atonement,
thousands of Jews gathered in front of the tabernacle. The priest selected two
goats. The first goat was sacrificed. The second goat was presented by the
priest. He placed his hands on the head of the goat and confessed the sins of
the people. "We’re cheaters, Lord. Liars. We envy our friend's success. We
covet our neighbor's spouse. We ignore the poor, worship our idols, and engage
in evil acts." Down the list he went until everything was confessed. “He
shall lay [the sins] on the head of the goat and send it away into the
wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. The goat shall bear on
itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat
in the wilderness.” (Lev. 16:21-22) Hence, the term “scapegoat.”
The people would
watch as the guide led the animal away. The pair grew smaller and smaller and
eventually disappeared over the horizon. And the people waited until the man
reappeared, empty-handed. The object lesson was clear: God does not want guilt
among his people. And you can bet your Torah that some ten-year-old boy tugged
on his mother's robe and said, "Why, Mommy? Why did they send the goat
away? He was innocent. He didn't do anything wrong." The mother, always
one to seize the moment, would lower herself until she was eye level with her son
and explain, "That’s the point, my child. God uses the sinless to carry
away the sins of the guilty." Or, as Isaiah would write several hundred
years later, "The LORD has put on him the punishment for all the evil we
have done." (53:6)
Isaiah did not know
the name of God's sin bearer. But we do. Jesus Christ. He came to "put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (Heb. 9:26) He "was offered
once to bear the sins of many." (v. 28) If you are in Christ, your sin is
gone. It was last seen on the back of your Scapegoat as he headed out to Death
Valley. When Jesus cried on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46), he entered the wilderness on your behalf. He
carried your sin away. But unlike the sin-bearing goat, Jesus returned sin-free.
His resurrection gives us power over sin. But to be guilt-free? Easier said
than done.
You've dragged
around your past for so long that you can't imagine yourself without it. God
can. He sees a new script. Just because you were a villain in Act 1, you don’t
have to be one in Act 2. He makes all things new. "The Son of Man has power
on earth to forgive sins." (Mark 2:10) Period. End of discussion. He has
the final word on your life. And his word is “grace.” Jesus did his part. Now
do yours.
Give God your guilt. “Father,
you are good. I need help. Forgive me.” Tell Jesus what you did. Place your
guilt on the back of your Sin Bearer. Give it to Jesus, and do it as often as
needed. One time, two times, ten times a day. Don’t hold anything back. No sin
is too ancient or too recent, too evil or too insignificant. Be abundant but
concrete in your confession. Go into as much detail as you can.
For instance, you
may be tempted to say, “Lord, forgive me. I’m a louse.” But that doesn't work.
For one thing you’re not a louse; you’re God's chosen child, and he loves you.
For another, healing happens when the wound is exposed to the air of grace.
Exactly what is it that you need forgiveness for? For being a bad person? That’s
too general. For losing your patience in the business meeting and calling your
co-worker a creep, or maybe something worse? There, you can confess that.
Confession isn’t a punishment for sin; it’s an isolation of sin so it can be
exposed and extracted. So be firm. Be specific.
Satan traffics
in guilt and won’t give up an addict without a fight. Exercise your authority
as a child of God. Tell guilt where to get off. Speak to it in the name of
Jesus. "I left you at the foot of the cross, so stay there!" And, for
heaven's sake, stop tormenting yourself. Jesus is strong enough to carry your
sin. Didn’t he say that he would? “He has removed our sins as far from us as
the east is from the west. The LORD is like a father to his children, tender
and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he
remembers we are only dust.” (Ps. 103:12-14)
We live in a
guilt-laden world. But there’s a population of people who have discovered the
grace of God. They don't drink their guilt away, work it away, or even chase it
away. They give it away. God wants you to be among them. The time has come for
a clean start, a fresh slate. God doesn’t see the marks of your past. Instead,
he sees this: "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands."
(Isa. 49:16) God has written your name where he can see it. And at the end of
the day, that’s the only tattoo that really matters.
Grace,
Randy
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