Dont’s, Do’s and Tattoos

            Don'ts, Do’s and Tatoos...

                 

 

A dear lady asked me yesterday if she could go to heaven with tattoos. She said some people told her she can’t go to heaven or serve the Lord because she has tattoos all over her arms. The first thing I told her is that we are saved by grace through faith - not of our works. Next I told her that the Bible under the New Covenant of grace is not a book of dont’s, but a book of do’s.

There’s only four dont’s in terms of "legalities" I can find in the New Testament. The apostle Paul instructed the church about these four dont's at the Jerusalem Counsel that the Apostle Luke wrote about. They are: don’t drink blood, don’t eat meat offered to idols, don’t eat anything that has been strangled and don’t commit sexual immorality (Acts 15:23-29). These rules had to do with idolatry, dietary health and our bodies as God's Temple. If an animal was strangled to death rather than bled out, the blood in its system would stagnate and cause the tissues and organs to become toxic and decompose much faster. Concerning sexual immorality, St. Paul had much to say about it in his first letter to the church in Corinth. Sexual purity is very important to God and should be to us as Christ followers.

Christianity is first about “being” then about “doing.” By God’s grace, we become children of God. That is who we are. It’s our “being”. Next, as God’s children we need to walk in obedience to his commands and go about “doing” His will, such as, loving the Lord, our God, with all of our heart, minds, soul and strength; loving our neighbor as ourselves; giving without expecting anything in return; worshiping the Father in spirit and truth; being Holy, even as He is holy; sharing the gospel; studying the Word of God to show ourselves approved unto God; and gathering ourselves together with other believers to encourage and strengthen one another. This is just the shortlist but the list of do’s goes on and on for the disciple and follower of Jesus Christ.

I shared with her the difference between grace and legality and that if we are focused on following and obeying God‘s Word and His "do’s," the don’ts fade..in other words our focus is so much on Jesus and obeying His Word that the distractions of temptations and sin pale in comparison to His grace and goodness. I gave her a copy of the Bible and told her to start with the gospel of John.

Bless her heart, she didn’t even know there was an Old and New Testament or where to find the gospel of John. The fields are ripe with harvest, and God is still in the loving and saving business. 

Jesus summed up all the other requirements of the law with the following two Commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The second one is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. Following these two commandments keep us in 'check' and close to Jesus' heart.

Praise God!

                By Mary Ann Wray