Last week I shared links to two other blog posts which discussed the issue of Christians getting tattoos. Needless to say, there was quite a lively discussion on my Facebook page! In the discussion, quite a few of my Christian friends shared the stories behind their tattoos and, despite my personal dislike of tattoos, I found the whole things fascinating so I thought it might be a nice idea to do something of a follow-up post…
So, if you are a Christian and have a tattoo, please contact me. I’d invite you to send me a picture of your tattoo, together with a little bit of the story behind it. I’ll then collect them all into a post for next week
When it comes to the truth, we should not stay silent. However, we also should not condemn or speak evil. Instead we should, paraphrasing Ephesians 4:15, seek to “speak truth in love”. One of my favourite bands, Casting Crowns, recently released a new album that contains a song which encapsulates this sentiment perfectly, “Love you with the truth”:
For the longest time, I believed the lie That I’m not a strong enough believer To be the friend that can take your hand And lead you straight to Jesus I’m waiting on the preachers, singers, and the teachers To string the perfect words together But every single time I have to say goodbye I wonder will this be the last time
I can’t call myself your friend and walk away
When we love, we earn the right to speak the truth When we speak truth, we show the world we truly love I’m not pointing my finger, I’m holding out my hand I lay it all on the line now to see God save my friend Let my life and my words be the proof I’m gonna love you with the truth Gonna love you with the truth
Yes, God is love, but God is just And we are separated in our darkness So God let Him who knew no sin To become sin to make us right with Him Its not about religion or earning Gods forgiveness Or magic prayers or new behavior Its all about your heart, Hell meet you where you are Turn from your sin and trust in Christ as Lord
Jesus is the truth, the life, the way
How I’ve prayed for this moment, that you would finally see That God is more than religion, a stained-glass fantasy And how Ive prayed for the courage, for my silent faith to speak Or that God would just send you a better friend than me