Parakalein

Yesterday in one of these natural conversations after church a women said to us, "I know God does not like my tattoos...."  She said it to the wrong person.  Debbie began to ask her why she thought that.  The response, "Everyone tells me that God hates tattoos because he hates when you treat your body badly".  She was not ready for the response or perhaps a part of her was wanting and needing a different read.

Debbie stated: "First of all did they check with God before they told you that?  Secondly why do you have tattoos?  She, the young woman, began to say how each tattoo memorialized in some way an experience or a person".  So Debbie continued, "you think the God memorializes events and people in the OT would not be open to a new way of memorializing?"  You get the idea.

God loves people without any conditions, regardless of anything, and with only one agenda that of transforming everyone and everything into loving and living in goodness and peace within and without.

God sees the heart, no the things we do even if they are bad and putting tattoos for good reasons or even tattoos for bad reasons do not cause God to lose the vision of your and my goodness.  People do and they also try to conform us to their image of God rather than letting God's image speak for itself.

Good sees clearly right through anything and everything we do and that is the defining quality of God's love.  We are called to love people in the same way.