| "They will be His people and God Himself will be with them
and be their God." -Revelation 21:3 |
| Did it hurt?
Some people's disdain for tattoos is wondering
why any reasonable person would willingly pursue a painful
experience. Are they crazy?
Pain is an interesting enigma. Surely, pain
would not be the way we experience it today if not for the Fall in
Eden. Pain is first mentioned in Genesis 3:16 as a punishment
given to Eve during childbirth. But yet people desire
childbirth despite the anticipation of overwhelming pain. Why?
|
Rodney. |
| Jesus chose the pain of the cross.
Why? Is it possible that in our pain we can worship God?
As a society, we have been taught the road of least resistance is
most desirable. But is this road most honorable? In our
pain, we physically grieve the fall of humankind and turn to God,
dependent and hopeful for a world to come-- beyond the physical
limitations of death. |
Chris. |
But tattoos will last the rest of your life-- why
mark yourself with something you will take to the grave?
Perhaps, the appeal is precisely because of its lasting mark-- in
taking these markings to the grave.
In truth, tattoos will not last an entire
life. These markings serve as a reminder that our life is more
than just the next 70 or so years. Our life is more than our
body. We need to become in touch with the eternal
qualities. We will survive the grave, leaving our scars behind
in the ground.
However, not every scar has survived the grave. |
| Jesus was able to present to his apostles the
scars of the crucifixion as proof of who he claimed to be. Why
did not his apostles just question him on something only he would
know? Did they not know what he looked like? No, they
were fascinated with the scars he took. Jesus welcomed this
fascination. He allowed them to touch his scars. By his
stripes, we are healed. This offering of pain and sacrifice
endures as an eternal sign of God's glory.
Christ wants us to experience him in a variety of
ways-- to worship the Father in both Body and Spirit. Too
often we limit worship to an intangible ethereal world beyond real
life experience. |
| We too share in the crucifixion of Christ.
We too are able to touch the scars. In the mystical act of
Communion, we share in his blood and body-- the eternal scars of
grace. We exchange our body, which is wasting away, to be
replaced and become part of Christ's body-- His Church. We
willingly share with Christ his scars.
Your life is not your body.
Your life is not your flesh.
Your life is not your sins.
Forgiven. No better word of love could be
spoken by the Son to those who are perishing. To his church...
To his bride... |
Crystal. |
| He would present her to himself, with a new body,
one that is without wrinkle, stain, or blemish. We are his
bride. Christ would love us. We will be beautiful in his
eyes. |
| I cannot help but think of Jesus' scars as battle
wounds. Wounds taken in a battle for his wife. Like the
warrior Braveheart, "I will not share you with the world.
I will not share you with the darkness. I will not let you stay in
the grave." What was the cost? With the
incarnation, Jesus put on the war paint-- human flesh to live a life
under the Law. In the desert, in the garden, before Pilate, on
the cross, he battled for us. And with his dying breath, he
announced to the world: "It is finished." The
battle is won. No one will take my people away from me.
We will be washed in the waters of forgiveness.
To be His people, to reclaim what was lost in the
Garden, this purpose drives God's love for us. This purpose
drives our worship of God. The two are inseparable. |
Josh. |
|
How wonderful it is to be people
of grace! |
|
Joel. |
My friend Robin David Rose once said to me, "The beauty of
the Gospel is you can place it in any culture and it will
grow." Many have come to believe in order to share the
Gospel, instead of translating the Gospel to the culture, we must
change the culture to fit our own. So instead of converting
people to God, we convert people to the middle class of
America. We teach people how to be good consumers. In
the process, we kill our hopes of true conversion and give these
people over to the very pagan gods we were trying to save them from.
The process of contextualizing the Gospel to a certain culture
means to understand the value system of that culture. To
realize, these people were created in dignity and in God's
image. Then to appreciate their values in light of God's Truth
and from there to build a bridge. |
| "Every tongue and tribe and nation"
We will bow down before God as His people. Maybe, we have
yet to appreciate the diversity of tribes existing in the
world. Tattooing is a very ancient tribal practice. For
some reason, we accept it as "cultural" for the ancient
tribal communities in other countries. But for a "more
advanced civilization" such as America, we view it as a stupid
and rebellious act. Our ethno-centrism begins to
surface. And deep down inside we actually believe, "Jesus
died to save white middle-class America, not the whole
world." |
Rodney. |
| Could God be worshipped through art? Could God be worshipped
through skin art? These questions are really not the correct
ones. The better question is "Can God be worshipped in
the heart of any of His creatures?" Yes, but in the
situation of His fallen creatures, only if the heart is transformed
from its rocky state to one of reverence and awe for the
Almighty. |
| To belong to God, we must desire the things of God. We must
obey His commands. We must admit our inability to accomplish
this holy service without His Spirit and presence in our lives.
The world is contrary to the things of God. The world asks
us to buy, when God wants to give. So the very things God
gives freely, we attempt to pay a price for, which we could never
afford. And in the end, we just receive a cheap imitation. |
Chris. |
| Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. To honor God, we
must do the things that maintain our bodies and keep them pure from
those things which truly scar and stain: sexual
immorality, anger, pride, greed, and hate. We cannot
love God and love these things. The marks we carry are prayers
of incense lifted to God, "I am human. I am marked by
You. And I belong to you alone, for now and forever." |
Crystal. |
|
Melissa
Cassidy, 20, and David
Hopkins, 22, are both students at the Texas A&M University
of Commerce. Melissa is a photography major. After
college, she plans to start a career in entertainment
photography. Melissa is a member of Walnut Ridge Baptist
Church. David, contributing editor for Next-Wave, is an
English major. He hopes to start his seminary training and
begin work as a church-planter and missionary to this
generation.
Both Melissa and David worship at aXXess
where many of the essay's participants also attend.
To contact Melissa or David, send an email to
david@next-wave.org |
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Apr 2000
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