Inked and Christian: How does that work?
Using ink as a tool of evangelism in a hard-to-reach world.
I was 18 when I stepped into a tattoo parlor for the first time. 20 the next time. And this weekend, the last.
Even at 18, I knew there were people that disliked or even despised tattoos, but it wasn’t until two years after my first one, that I was actually confronted with a situation that forced me to defend my decision….in South Africa of all places. Two older woman confronted myself and a close friend about our ink, questioning why would ‘do such a thing.’ I jumped at the opportunity to explain what mine actually meant to me, only to have Bible verses thrown back at me. At first, I felt irritated, realizing the change in attitudes surrounding tattoos throughout generations. I felt attacked without out being allowed a moment to defend myself. And I’m sure we can all guess what verse she chose to use against me…yep, you guessed it…Leviticus.
Leviticus 19:28 “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I [am] the LORD.”
And for a minute, I agreed with her. Was my tattoo sinful?
I searched all throughout the Bible for something that told me that it was okay and pretty much came up empty-handed. I could have defaulted to the age-old argument, “but, that’s in the Old Testament, and not in the New!” But I chose not to, and continued to search. My favorite version of the Bible, The Message, even says, “You should not tattoo yourselves.”
Humph. I don’t know if that could have been any more clear.
And so for months, I thought, “Okay, no more tattoos,” but struggled in wondering if my tattoo was God-honoring, if it was still sinful, or was my need to get inked selfish and therefore not God honoring?
I questioned, struggled, searched, and had conversations for months, until I again decided that I should stick with just my one tattoo.
But, shortly after this decision, I had a conversation with an individual in the small coffee shop that I work in, that would end up changing this decision for good, completely changing my own opinions surrounding ink.
As I handed this young man his steaming hot latte, he noticed the tattoo on my left wrist and proceeded to ask me what it meant.
So here’s what I told him:
The word agape comes from the greek word ‘love’, but more specifically means ‘God’s love’, a type of love that can’t be replicated, that we may not even understand fully because it is so immense, so incredible, so vast, that only God can display this type of love. It’s simply unimaginable. I have this wrapped in an infinity sign to remind myself that his love is infinite, that there is nothing that I can do or say that will ever make Him love me less, and I, personally, need that reminder daily. The birds above the infinity sign come from a passage out of Matthew that speaks about the crows.
Matthew 6:36 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
This is a constant reminder that I am valuable in the Kingdom of God, that I am here to serve him, but that there is no amount of good works that I can do to earn myself a spot in the Kingdom of Heaven, but I am cared for and loved, regardless of what I do or how often I fail.
I could see his change in expression as I continued to tell him about this type of love, it almost looked as if he was surprised, and it dawned on me; he was. He was expecting the young college girl to say that she got her tattoo because it was ‘cute’, or just because ‘I liked it,’ but what he heard, was a well thought out answer, built upon scripture with a deep understanding of who our God really is.
It turns out, What he found….was the Gospel.
Although he only stayed to talk with me for a few more minutes, he continued to ask me about church, learned that I wanted to be a pastor, told me how he had strayed away from the church during college, but then he said something that would change my own opinions of my own tattoo for years to come; he said he was going to go to church that weekend.
He didn’t convert in front of me. Didn’t ask to be baptized, didn’t necessarily say that his opinions of the church had changed. But, he did say that he was going to go.
I’ll never know if that man actually went to church that Sunday, I’ll never know if he ever fell back in love with Jesus. I’ll never know if he ever decided to start talking to God again.
But, I do know that if it wasn’t for the small amount of ink on my left wrist, he may have never even thought about stepping foot back into a church again. He may have never heard of the love of Christ again. Perhaps, he may have never even heard a fraction of the Gospel again.
But he did.
As it turns out, I realized that the ink that I placed on my body has an immense amount if power. It’s a starting point for conversation that opens a small window into the opportunity to speak about the Gospel to those who may ask.
He changed my own opinion, because he made me realize that my ink can be used for so much more than a simple reminder to myself.
On a college campus, the Gospel can be hard to find at times. But students are always interested in the ink on my wrists. It sparks a conversation, it brings people to start asking questions, and brings people to consider Christ again.
Small marks on my wrists have become a tool for evangelism, and that, in of itself, is powerful.
So although Leviticus tells us not to mark our bodies, 1 Corinthians 6:20 also tells us to, “Honor God with [our] bodies.”
That is, yes I have ink, and maybe that is a sin, maybe its not, but at the very least they all honor God and at the end of the day, the ink on my body is a conversation starter. It peaks curiosity, it gets people thinking, but most importantly, it allows people who may have never wanted to, never thought to, or may have never have the opportunity to, to hear about the love of Christ.
So whatever your opinions on ink are, remember that there are conversations and things taking place that you don’t see. Because a small word on my body, may just be the thing that brings someone to start thinking about Jesus again and in the end, that’s what’s truly important.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they have been made a new creation, all past sins have expired and been made new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
For those of us that have been made new in Christ, there is nothing more that we should want than for others to feel the same love, acceptance, and direction, and if a glimpse of that can be seen through ink, then my tattoos have done their job. Have yours?
