Tattooed Forever

Not too long ago, I was waiting in line at a local store and found myself standing beside a young man who had a tattoo 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." 

"If you're a Christian," I said, "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 you could keep yourself saved after you're saved then you could save yourself before you're saved. Does that make sense? And if that's the case, that we have the ability to keep ourselves saved, then Jesus didn't need to die for us in the first place. We could have just saved ourselves to begin with." 

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

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 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. God prepared work for us to be about in his kingdom as his sons and daughters. He has a plan for each of us. This goes all the way back to the creation story. 

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 realized God had been the one who saved me. It wasn't God and me like some kind of joint effort. "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. 

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. 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. 

It had been an exhausting ordeal for many years for me and the Farmer until we understood the full measure of God's grace in Jesus. So, I felt for that young man. I remembered a time when I didn't understand grace. 

When we are saved, yes, there is a new desire put there by the Holy Spirit to obey God and a new power that enables us to obey that wasn't there before, but we still fight against sin, our flesh and the enemy. We have the tools now, and we need to use them as the New Testament commands us over and over, but our salvation is not dependent on us obeying the Bible to get into Heaven. It can't be because we aren't capable of obeying the law perfectly, so our salvation can't be dependent on us keeping the law. If it is, we're going down. 

"Jesus lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died," Dr. Keller explained. Now his perfect life and death are applied to us when we are born again. Praise God. 

"Great, now I can live how ever I want and still get into Heaven!" 

"You can't live how ever you want and expect to get into Heaven!"

Neither of these statements show an understanding of what God did for helpless sinners in sending his Son into the world, and for years I camped out in the second. 

As believers when we fall into sin, we are convicted. We may continue to struggle with the same sins, but they crush us. The weight of our sins is heavy upon us as David described in Psalm 51. 

You know the difference in King Saul and King David was not that David was holier, so he got to be called a man after God's own heart. No, they both sinned terribly, but it wasn't about who sinned worse. It was about how each king responded to their sins. When confronted with his sins, Saul made excuses. When David was confronted with his sins, he fell on his face and truly repented. 

We must fight the good fight of faith. These struggles strengthen us; they cause us to rely on God and not earthly comforts. I don't understand why God just doesn't save us and bring us to Heaven immediately, but I've learned this "light momentary affliction" according to the apostle Paul may have something to do with it. They are earning for us as Paul goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 4 "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." ( 1 Timothy 6:12 )  

The dark battle I faced with an alcohol addiction literally felt like it was going to kill me. I had more fear and anxiety because of the sin and its evil tendrils than the alcohol itself giving me cirrhosis of the liver or something of that nature. When I finally repented and cried out to God to help me, the release of the weight still brings me joy every day of my life. Paul is right - there is no comparison. 

We can experience this joy now in glimpses, and those glimpses astound us, but one day we will know the glory without measure. 

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 told the young man that he may have Jesus tattooed on his arm, but God says in Isaiah that he has his children's name engraved on the palm of his hand. I wished I had told him that he may be bearing a picture of Jesus on his arm, but Jesus is bearing the nail scars our sins cost him inside of his hands forever. 

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." 💜