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I really love tattoos! They are just so fascinating and
intriguing to me especially to hear the stories behind them. I have four tattoos all of which mean
something special to me and mark a time of remembrance in my life that is
important to me.
It’s a big decision to get a tattoo, I mean, it’s on your body until you die. That is a pretty big commitment! Then, of course, there is dealing with other people’s comments or judgments of you because you have this permanent alteration on your body. For me though, tattoos are just another way to express myself.
There is also this depth to tattoos that I think a lot of people miss out on, in my case anyway. When I’m getting tattooed with this marking of memorial to my life, there is a depth of connection or release that I feel in that moment that really is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Even now, looking down at the “Destemido” etched across my wrist as I type this, the emotions of what it means to me come rushing back.
So, then today I was thinking about a verse from 2 Corinthians.
We are Christ’s Spirit tattoos inked on human hearts. Now that… is cool! There is another verse in Romans that talks about the dangers of living by the law and the inability to measure up to it and it says,
The power of this verse to me is amazing because of the immense amount of truth that I find in it. When you live by law your thoughts will either accuse you, plaguing you with guilt every time you fail, or they will defend you, making you feel entitled and cause you to look at others with the attitude “well, I’m not as bad as they are…” All that law can do is expose failure; that was the whole point of the law in the first place!
Law tattoos are like tattoos of your ex’s name forever embedded on your arm, every time you look at it you are filled with disgust and shame, trying desperately to hide it. The difference in a Spirit tattoo is that it brings life with it, it brings that deep connection I was talking about earlier that evokes joy and memories and desire to show it off.
I am proud to have been tattooed by Christ and that now I can be the ink that he tattoos other people’s hearts with. It is one tattoo that will be with me even after I die and I have a feeling that when I meet Jesus he will have “Jess” tattooed across his heart too, in big red letters.
It’s a big decision to get a tattoo, I mean, it’s on your body until you die. That is a pretty big commitment! Then, of course, there is dealing with other people’s comments or judgments of you because you have this permanent alteration on your body. For me though, tattoos are just another way to express myself.
There is also this depth to tattoos that I think a lot of people miss out on, in my case anyway. When I’m getting tattooed with this marking of memorial to my life, there is a depth of connection or release that I feel in that moment that really is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Even now, looking down at the “Destemido” etched across my wrist as I type this, the emotions of what it means to me come rushing back.
So, then today I was thinking about a verse from 2 Corinthians.
“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.”
We are Christ’s Spirit tattoos inked on human hearts. Now that… is cool! There is another verse in Romans that talks about the dangers of living by the law and the inability to measure up to it and it says,
“They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them.”
The power of this verse to me is amazing because of the immense amount of truth that I find in it. When you live by law your thoughts will either accuse you, plaguing you with guilt every time you fail, or they will defend you, making you feel entitled and cause you to look at others with the attitude “well, I’m not as bad as they are…” All that law can do is expose failure; that was the whole point of the law in the first place!
Law tattoos are like tattoos of your ex’s name forever embedded on your arm, every time you look at it you are filled with disgust and shame, trying desperately to hide it. The difference in a Spirit tattoo is that it brings life with it, it brings that deep connection I was talking about earlier that evokes joy and memories and desire to show it off.
I am proud to have been tattooed by Christ and that now I can be the ink that he tattoos other people’s hearts with. It is one tattoo that will be with me even after I die and I have a feeling that when I meet Jesus he will have “Jess” tattooed across his heart too, in big red letters.
*2 Corinthians 3:2-3 (NET)
*Romans 2:15 (NET)
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