The Only Tattoo Worth Its Ink

 

The Only Tattoo Worth Its Ink

The Only Tattoo Worth Its Ink - Audio/Visual 

“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 should probably have a sign over their entrance that says, "Think before you ink." Or perhaps better yet a recorded voice playing softly in the background cautioning, "Do you really want to wear her name on your knuckles for the rest of your life?" Maybe even a full-time employee whose only job is to remind the customers, "The tattoo artist doesn’t come with an eraser."

Professional athletes probably 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. 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.

Now, it’s true that these same parlors can also remove the mistakes, and for the right price they can get the bad ink out of your skin. It’s a painful and expensive process, sometimes requiring multiple trips, but it’s pretty effective if you want to remove the unwanted marks from your past. And who doesn't? You may not have any tattoos, but you probably have regrets. You may not have a permanent souvenir from a Cancun Spring-break, but you probably have the memories of one. 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 you see? What images would be reflected in the mirror? The face of someone you hurt? The amount of money you squandered? All the could'ves and should'ves in life. "I could've been a better mom." "I should've paid more attention." When we dig around in the basement of our souls, what do we find? Wasted years. Perversions. Destructive diversions. Anger at parents, or exes. Selfishness. Arrogance. Racial slurs. We've cheated on exams, cheated on friends, maybe even cheated on spouses. The consequences can be ugly. Unresolved guilt gives birth to a gaggle of unhealthy emotions.

Most of them fit under one of two categories: 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 goal: to suppress the secret. As a result, 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. So, 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 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 or refuse 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 same way highway engineers use Botts’ Dots. When we stray from of our lane, it calls 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." (Isaiah 53:6)

Isaiah didn’t 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 that 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’ve 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. It’s a new year and 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 inked your name where he can see it. And at the end of the day, that’s the only tattoo that really matters.

Grace,

Randy