Two Tattoos

I was traveling for my job recently and caught an Uber to get from the airport to my company’s local office.  The Uber driver was roughly my age, a sports fan, and talkative without being annoying so we had a pretty good conversation.  We covered everything from New Orleans cuisine to college football to church.  He told me about his son who would be graduating soon from Army Boot Camp.  His son had wanted to join the Marine Corps, but apparently a tattoo on his arm was “too visible.”  I haven’t looked into Marine regulations to verify, but the rules seem to be a bit stricter for potential Marines than for potential soldiers.

The tattoo read “Only God can judge me.”  In an effort to become one of the few and the proud, this young man went to an ink shop to have the tattoo altered so it would meet Marine Corps requirements.  To that end, he had the “me” removed so that the tattoo read, “Only God can judge.”  For some reason, even after this, he passed on the Marine Corps and enlisted in the Army.

I arrived at the local office where a co-worker and I were meeting with employees individually to discuss their interests and futures.  There was a good chance their positions would be eliminated in six months or so, and we were discussing possibilities with them.  One of the employees was a man in his late 20’s who was a very good employee – a keeper.  He had a tattoo barely visible under his shirt sleeve (probably not Marine Corps material).  My co-worker asked what the tattoo was.  The young man pulled up his sleeve to reveal a rocky cave entrance with a devil standing beside the opening.  Around the picture were the words, “Let my name be feared at the Gates of Hell.”  He said he obtained the tattoo in honor of his father who had died some months before.

While I’m not the brightest guy in the world at making connections, encountering these two tattoos within a few hours struck me as more than coincidental.  “Only God can judge me” is a favorite refrain in our world, the implication being that no one can tell me what to do; my life is my own to live.  The deceased rapper, Tupac, wrote a song and titled an album, Only God Can Judge Me.  I won’t stoop to share the lyrics with you.

But then the “me” gets removed from the tattoo.  Does that change anything – going from “only God can judge me” to “only God can judge?”  I think so.  “Only God can judge me” carries a very individualistic message – it’s about me and you can’t judge me.  It’s my life and I can do what I want with it.  But when you state, “only God can judge,” it recognizes who God is and the authority He has.  James 4:12 tells us, “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy.”  That is power – only God can save and only God can destroy.

It must have been painful to have the “me” removed from the tattoo.  It’s just as painful, but necessary, to have the “me” has to be removed from our lives.  While we are made in the image of God and valuable to Him as individuals, our individualism pales in comparison to His power and glory.  We must realize that, though He loves us, the grand story is not about us, but about Him and His love.  Only in His love and grace do our lives find meaning.

“Let my name be feared at the Gates of Hell.”  I don’t have a tattoo, but if I did, I can’t imagine having this phrase etched on my body, especially in memory of someone I loved.  I understand the sentiment behind it – his father was gone, and he wanted to remember him as a bad dude – someone who could give the devil all he could handle.  This raises some interesting questions.  Of whom is the devil afraid?  Would he be afraid of a man?  What would make him afraid of a man?

It’s safe to say the devil trembles at the name of God (James 2:19), but how does one of us make him feel? William Cowper wrote, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.”  On the other hand, AW Tozer wrote, “It is not the praying sheep that Satan fears, but the presence of the Shepherd.”  We bear the image of God and Satan certainly does not like that, but does he fear us?  I think he fears what we can accomplish when we are obedient to God and doing His work.  I think he fears the power of prayer because it is direct communication with God.  But I don’t think he fears little ole me, one puny human without any power of his own.  But I have power and I have the presence of God in me because the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in me.  So, I believe Satan does fear a believer because when he encounters a believer, he is encountering the very presence of God.  But, again, the “me” needs to be removed.  It is not my name that is feared at the gates of Hell, but the name of the Lord God.

Here’s a tattoo for me: “Only God can judge, and His name is to be feared everywhere.”  But even better, “Only God can love me with the overwhelming love that is His very essence (1 John 4:8), and, while I need to fear and respect the Lord because of His power and righteousness, I need not live in fear because of His love.“ It’s a longer tattoo but a stronger message.  If I ever get this tattoo it will raise a lot of eyebrows; but I don’t care.  After all, you can’t judge me…