Tattooed Forever

Not too long ago, I was waiting in line at a local store and found myself standing beside a young man who bore a tattoo of an image of Jesus on his arm. Of course, I couldn't help myself. I said, "I like your tattoo; tell me about it. You're a Christian, I'm assuming."

His answer struck me, but I understood it all too well. He smiled a bit and said, "I'm trying." 

I quickly responded, "If you're a Christian, you don't have to try. We can find rest in the most beautiful words Jesus ever spoke: 'It is finished.'"

"You can't finish the job yourself; you know that, right?"

I could tell by his face that he was struggling to understand the concept of grace. His wife said that she wasn't a Christian, but she didn't object, listening quietly to what I was saying. 

"If it was possible for you to keep yourself saved after you're saved, then you could have saved yourself to begin with. Why would you even need Jesus?" 

It reveals so much about human nature in general, doesn't it? Trying to earn our way. Knowing we need saving and then trying every means possible to obtain it ourselves. 

Our salvation actually is based on a covenant of works, but not ours. Jesus's. 

Jesus came and fulfilled the law perfectly for us because "none is righteous, no, not one....." now when we repent and believe in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, his work is applied to us through a covenant of grace. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Not by our works, but his. This is the good news of the gospel. ( Psalms 14, 53, Romans 3: 11-18 ) 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-9 

We are created 'for' good works. We not saved by works, but unto works. Our works don't save us; they are proof that we are saved. They're the fruit we produce after the Holy Spirit regenerates our hearts and creates in us a new desire to obey God. ( Titus 3:4-7 ) 

I faced the same struggle with works until one day after wrangling with my salvation, wondering for years if I was in or out, if I had gone too far, if I had done my duty or kept my part of the bargain enough to obtain the promises. Then I sort of had this "Martin Luther moment." I realized as I was listening to a sermon series on the Book of Romans: 

No, actually I had not kept up my end of the bargain. And that was the whole point. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. It was impossible. 

If keeping my salvation was left up to me, I was going to bust hell wide open. 

I finally saw that my weak understanding of the perseverance of the saints stemmed from a weak view of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And both of those weaknesses grew out of a wrong understanding of the human condition, that we are dead in our trespasses and sins as Ephesians 2 so clearly states. 

When I gazed into the work of Christ's stunning power and beauty through the Scriptures, it sunk in that God had been the one who saved me. "Salvation belongs to the LORD!" ( Psalm 3:8, Psalm 62:1, Jonah 2:9, Revelation 7:10 ) It was him, and since it was him, he was capable of bringing me all the way home. 

I found the rest that Jesus promised his followers in Matthew 11:25-30.  Yoked to him, instead of my sin, no matter how much I faced in this life, his burden was light. In Him, I found rest for my soul. 

It wasn't up to me. 

Paul said that he was convinced the good work God began in us he would bring it to completion. "It is God who works in you." ( Philippians 1:6, 2:12 ) In sanctification the Holy Spirit still does all the work, but he isn't going to do it without us. He gives us new desires to obey God and the power to do it. I can't explain how it works, but I love this. We are not puppets; we are real live sons and daughters in the family of God. 

I felt for that young man because I remembered a time when I didn't understand God's grace or the Lordship of Christ. 

Have you ever been speaking with someone and then you parted ways and later started kicking yourself for the things you wished you had said that you didn't? 

I wished I had shared the Gospel with him more thoroughly and not assumed that he knew it. I wished I had explained that we must first be broken over our sins and know we need Jesus before we come. That's it's not about walking an aisle or saying a particular prayer. I wished I had dug a little deeper. 

I wished I had told the young man that he may have Jesus tattooed on his arm, but if he was truly in Christ, God had him tattooed on the palm of his hand. And so did Jesus in the way of nail scars.  

Maybe he'll read this. 

💜

"Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come,

'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home."