Recently while working at Great Awakenings I met a young man who lives a couple doors down from the coffee shop and who attends the local high school.
This seventeen year old came into the shop one night wearing a sleeveless t-shirt. This provided a good view of the ink he has tatted up and down his arms. What particularly caught my eye was a portrait of Jesus on his shoulder. I told him that I liked his tattoo and he went on to explain his complete collage. One arm showed the figures of Jesus, a cross, the name 'saint', and as he turned, the other arm showed fire, skulls, an upside down cross and the name 'sinner'. He mentioned that he feels like he is inwardly living a war between good and evil.
He mentioned that he is a believer in Christ but he feels like the flesh is always at work. For instance he mentioned that the group of guys he hangs out with isn't the best influence but he enjoys occasionally smoking pot with them.
I deeply appreciated his honesty and I assumed if he was honest about smoking pot, then he would probably be honest about answering a question. I asked him, "How could a new church meet the needs of this community?". He quickly responded, "Well, I don't think anyone would come... NO ONE will come.". I asked, "Why not?" and he quickly noted the hard realities of the neighborhood and in the turn of a sentence he had redirected the conversation right back to his tattoos. He said that the religious in the community talk down on him by saying that he is ruining the temple of God by tattooing his arms. Suddenly I began to understand what he was really saying. He wasn't saying that people wouldn't come to church because they are opposed to it. What he was saying is that the church is opposed to having them as a part of it. Therefore church is not for them.
My heart broke for this young man. I tried my best to show him that God is interested fundamentally with one's heart (Mark 7). The basis of our goodness is not dependent upon an ink free body. The basis of our goodness comes freely by faith from the bruised and broken body of our Lord Jesus Christ who embraced the penalty of our sin and claimed victory over its sting in his glorious resurrection.
I assured this young man that I appreciated the outward expression of his inward struggle. Then I joked with him about how Christ will come back some day with a tattoo of his own. Revelations 19:16 "On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. "
Pray for this young man. My prayer is that he will come to know the grace of Jesus in fuller measure and that his identity in Christ might be lived out and matured in a local gathering of believers... and perhaps that God would have him become a part of a potential church plant in the near future.