stained.

in recent news, a former skinhead named Bryon Widner has turned his life around. The evidences of his former sins of racism, however, were plastered all over his body in tattoos that clearly indicate his past. His sins are externally visible and he hated it. He would do anything to get rid of them and forgo his former lifestyle. His face, covered in tattoos with racist hate, was his greatest challenge and evidence of who he used to be. He wanted the tattoos gone. He was no longer that man. He even went as far as to consider taking acid and burning his face to beyond recognition to get rid of them. He would do anything.


Well, fortunately he didn't have to burn them off with acid. A kind donor offered to pay the $35,000 repeated tattoo removal surgeries. Bryon underwent 25 extremely painful laser surgeries over a period of 16 months to completely rid himself of his past which haunted his face everywhere he went. The procedures became so painful with burning, blistering, and severe swelling that Bryon had to be put under general anesthetic rather than being kept awake.


Ultimately, Bryon's surgeons successfully removed all the tattoos on his face and neck, leaving his face clean and without evidence of his former life. Though the rest of his body remains covered in ink, Bryon is slowly covering up his other racist tattoos as he is able.  Check it out:

You can read an extensive article here  And check out the promo for the MSNBC special that aired this past summer- you can see some of the pain he had to endure-


This whole story has my mind racing. What a picture of redemption, you know?  It reminds me of the real-life version of the powerful Edward Norton movie American History X.
I wonder what it would be like if every time we sinned it was like a facial tattoo.  I wonder if- knowing the pain- we'd be like... ok this one's not that bad... I can work with it... but then we'd do something or run our mouths or fall into something terrible and then we'd have to beg and borrow money and hope that it was enough to get rid of that REALLY bad stain... Can you imagine the miserable existence that life would be if we had to go through that pain and torture to remove them? What a world that would be.
And yet, in the spiritual sense deserve to that pain.  We deserve to have our sins laid bare for all to see.  For our insecurities and shortcomings to be tattooed on our foreheads and knuckles.  We should have to go through surgeries and blisters and torment in order to attempt to make them fade.  But we couldn't even come close.  Even after 25,000 procedures our sins would be just as crimson and numerous and bright.  No, when it comes to our hearts, there is no removal by worldly means.

Thanks be to God that our sin is cleaned by the righteousness of Jesus.  It wasn't $35,000, nor was it pain-free.  It cost Jesus His life by way of a humiliating criminal's death.  But for us it was a free gift.  Because of God's unimaginable grace and mercy that is beyond our understanding, our sins aren't tattooed on our foreheads for all to see, nor do we have to suffer and grit our teeth in pain in order for them to be removed.  No.  Jesus blood wiped them clean and removed them as far as the east is from the west.
But oh how we try to be noble and proud and manly.  We try so hard to "do the right thing" and make plans for us to rid ourselves of our sin.  It seems as if its all to easy-
look at the cross and my sins are gone?  no way!
I have to do SOMETHING!
What I did, it caused pain:
Feelings were hurt
Expectations weren't met
Friends were let down
Love wasn't shown
Grace wasn't given
Words cut deep
I have to pay for this!!
God, hurt me!  Make me blister like the words I fire off blister the hearts of those I spew anger toward
make me cringe like the people I leave in my wake cringe when i let them down
make me cry like those whom I fail to love cry
I have to do something to atone for this, God... right?

No.

Jesus paid it all.
all to Him I owe-
sin had left a crimson stain
He made it white as snow.

Wow.  Not to say there aren't scars.  We are sometimes left to deal with the messy situations that we make when we're left to our own designs.
But the sin, the guilt, the aftertaste- all of it was removed from my inmost being when my Savior bled and died.
He took it all.
How silly I must look to God when I try to do my own surgery.  When I find the acid of the world in the attempt to remove my own stains.  How offensive it must be to the Almighty to hang on to guilt and shame even though He is willing and able to shoulder all of it.  How sad it must be for Him to see me limit my view of the creator of the world by holding back and not allowing Him to have everything-
to have...
me.

He does have me.  He has me in the grip of His nail-marked hands.  And even though I think that I can keep things from Him, I can't.  He knows me in the secret, in my quiet place- and even though He sees that- the deep, dark, dungeon of the pits of my soul- He sees the worst yet He STILL loves me.
Even though I deserve a million times the pain that Bryon had to go through to remove his stains, I've been given robe of salvation.
So now, just as Bryon has a whole new lease on his stain-free life, how much more should we, as bought-back children of God live each and every day filled to the brim with inexpressible joy knowing that no one- not even God- can see our stains anymore because we are clothed in the sinless blood of the spotless lamb.
Wow.

it took seeing a skinhead's tattoos for me to realize that.

Lord come quickly.