Ive been watching Tattoo Fixers.
Purely for research purposes you understand. ( hee hee hee)
Let me explain. I was watching something else and when that finished Tattoo Fixers came on and I wasnt paying attention until I suddenly found myself starting to watch it with a mix of horror and amazement. Its a programme about people who have had the most ridiculous and stupid things tattooed on themselves and the 'artists' who then tattoo over them to hide the originals. The fascinating thing is that the tattoo fixers are incredibly talented artists. They can draw brilliantly and reproduce those drawings on peoples skin perfectly. It's definitely a skill. And the other thing is that they seem to be incredibly nice people. They are genuinely concerned about the stupid things people have written on themselves ( usually when drunk) and want to make lives better and people feel positive about themselves.
I suppose it all makes for entertaining telly - to a point.
But what strikes me this evening as I watch is that people are trying to cover up their mistakes with more of the same. I have a small and annoying tattoo - so I shall get a bigger tattoo to cover it up !
And isnt that just such a human response to the messes we make in our lives? We feel stupid. Embarrassment. We want to cover over our mistakes. We are ' naked and ashamed'.
Adam and Eve knew all about it and from the very beginning we have suffered from that age old dilemma - we have words and images imprinted on us which we want to get rid of but which are under our skin - part of us. We can dress to conceal - like Adam and Eve did with their animal skins. But the ink is still on us. We are unclean.
The 'ink' under our skins comes in many different forms. From words spoken over us to labels we put on ourselves. Things which we inherit and habits we form. People who have used and abused us and things we have done which have left us guilty and weighed down. We might not all look like this on the outside, but on the inside many of us know what it is to be scribbled on and defaced. And the other thing which really fascinated me about the tattoo programme on television was that the cover up art was nearly always of a skull or something ' deathly'. It is as though you can only cover up death with death. Which is, I suppose, the very nature of ' covering up'.Oh wouldn't it be wonderful if there was some way we could just be washed clean of all the crap which life writes over us? What wouldn't we give for our memories to be healed, our minds cleansed, our bodies restored and the ink of our mistakes to be permanently and forever erased without trace?
Well guess what?? GOOD NEWS! There is something which can wash us clean. And there is a way for us to be made as pure and perfect as new born babies.
Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without shedding of blood there is no remission."
I John 1:7 tells us that "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin."
God, in choosing the cleansing agent for our sins, chose the very best that He had, the blood of His own Son. It is by the precious blood of our Lord, that we are cleansed from all of our sins.
Revelation 1:5 says, "To Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood."
Hooray!!! Before Jesus came the people of Israel had to cover up their sins with the blood of goats and lambs. Every year confessing their wrongdoings, the ink under their skin, and slaughtering an animal to provide a temporary fix. But then God sent Jesus - the perfect lamb of God - to die once and for ALL so that we can be forever cleansed. He gets under our skins and into our hearts with His forgiveness and love until no trace of ink remains. No lies, no hurt, no guilt , no unforgiveness, no wickedness, no brokenness.
Jesus - the Divine Tattoo Fixer !!
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment