Tattooed With Grace

I was picking up leftover word search activity sheets when a new family walked into the classroom. I had just taught half a dozen 2^nd and 3^rd graders about the power of the tongue, from James 3. Another children’s ministry worker, Mary, came in with them and seemed deep in conversation. Unsure whether to make myself scarce or join in, I finished picking up and organizing markers and crayons. Just then, Mary turned and smiled, her face inviting me to join in.

The husband and wife were asking about the Sunday school lesson, so Mary let me take the lead. I shared that my lessons came from the church website, which provides expositional lessons through each book of the bible. This is modeled after Calvary Chapel’s teaching through each book of the bible.

In 2012 we learned about Paul’s missionary journeys in Acts, the Good News of Jesus Christ through Paul’s powerful epistle, Romans, the Biblical definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13, as well as portions of the various letters Paul wrote to the churches in the New Testament. I explained that the lessons are Jesus-focused and teach how the Word guides our lives.

As I finished up I sensed deep-seated skepticism from the dad, and a few moments later we found out that this family visited our church a few years back. They had left after the dad encountered unbiblical teaching and he had a disagreement with a pastor. Shock hit me like an unexpected wave; Though I’m no bible scholar and the church staff are fallible humans like the congregation, I do know the Holy Spirit is at work throughout our church.

Most importantly, Jesus is worshipped and the Word is taught in truth and love.

Unbiblical? I waited, curiosity overflowing like a flooded river.

Though the father wasn’t aggressive or rude, he was set solid like a container of old cement about one particular issue. I know Mary also prayed for wisdom and was curious, too. When he finally shared what it was, surprise and bewilderment twisted together into a rope of disbelief.

Tattoos.

Tattoos?

I’m not a big fan of them, I don’t have any, and I’ll probably never get one, but I have Christian friends with tattoos. I settled my indignation on their behalf, schooling my features as best I could. He explained that he believed salvation was hindered because of a tattoo on a person’s body and he wondered how could God forgive what he expressly forbade.

Old Testament flashed through my mind like a neon sign, and I know Mary had the same thought. The dad believed a verse in the Old Testament about God forbidding tattoos adversely affected a person’s salvation.

Unfortunately, when we gently asked where he found the verse, he wasn’t sure, and both Mary and I needed to wrap up the conversation. We mentioned to him that Old Testament laws weren’t meant to direct our lives presently, but the stumbling block seemed unmovable at his feet.

Later I found the verse about tattoos. Leviticus 19:28 says, “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you; I am the Lord.” I felt sadness for the dad and other people he would come into contact with and judge; the book of Leviticus was written as a guide-book for God’s redeemed people, the Israelites, over a thousand years before Jesus’ birth. It’s a set of rules the Israelites were to live by as they learned to worship and honor God.

Were.

Jesus.

GRACE! GRACE! GRACE!

“And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” ~ John 1:17

Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law. Don’t stumble under rules and self-imposed laws that will weigh your soul down and negate the precious blood Jesus shed for our sin.  It is finished! Through faith in Jesus Christ, our lives are tattooed with His amazing grace and peace with our Creator.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” ~ Romans 5:1 & 2

Guest Post: God’s Unmerited Favor

I’m blessed to have Author Amanda Beth as my guest blogger this week. I met Amanda through a writing friend on Facebook and I’m very grateful God crossed our paths. She’s a sweet encourager with a huge heart for Jesus and for rightly dividing the word of Truth, as well as an inspiring writer sharing God’s word and its daily application on her blog. She’s a wife of fifteen years and homeschooling mother of four. I’ve learned so much from her weekly posts and her book, You Can Have a Happy Family – Steps to Enjoying Your Marriage and Children.  

Amanda is sharing her powerful post, God’s Unmerited Favor. Her words blessed me and I know they’ll bless and encourage others. Please leave a comment for my dear friend and stop by her blog to read more of her insightful, Spirit-lead posts.

 

God’s Unmerited Favor

by Amanda Beth

I heard a heartbreaking story on the radio recently. A woman called into the station because she was hurting deeply. She had been raped. She’d given her kids up and was living on the street. She felt hopeless. She didn’t know how to get out of her situation. I was in tears when she cried out, “I’m tired! I don’t want to fight anymore!”

Have you ever felt you couldn’t take another day? Have you felt as if everything around you was falling apart? Have you ever dug yourself so deep into a pit you didn’t know how to get out? Or worse, have you ever been innocently thrown into a pit and didn’t understand why God allowed it?

I had a situation last year that upset me greatly. I didn’t know why it happened or how it was going to work out. As I was sharing it with my friend, she expressed, “Maybe God is trying to teach you about grace.”

After talking to her I opened my Amplified Bible and started reading Zechariah chapter four. I came across verse seven, which read: “For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it!”

I looked up grace in my Amplified Bible and found it meant “God’s unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy.” I knew God was telling me to shout to my mountain, “Grace, grace to it!” God wanted me to see that my mountain was only a mere molehill compared to His grace.

My obstacle was not going to crush me. It was not going to harm me. It was not going to destroy me. God’s favor was surrounding me.

God’s favor doesn’t mean our trials will go away and everything will work out the way we want them to. God’s favor means that we will rise and soar above our mountains and they will not overtake us.

Have you ever flown in an airplane? Everything that seems so big on land looks so small when you’re soaring high above them. God wants to lift us high above our mountains so we can see that He is bigger.

The Apostle Paul experienced more trials than most of us have experienced, or will ever experience. Yet he stated, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Paul “delighted” in his weaknesses. He “delighted” in insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. He knew his trials strengthened him and drew him closer to the Lord. He knew God’s grace was all he needed. It was sufficient for everything he had to go through. He knew God’s favor was resting on him. He knew God wouldn’t allow anything that He couldn’t work out for Paul’s benefit and to further the gospel.

Paul soared above his mountains with joy knowing they weren’t bigger than His God. If Paul allowed his trials to keep him down, I don’t believe we would know about him today. His life was a true example of God’s unmerited favor.

I read this wonderful quote in “Make Me a Legend” by pastor and author, Chuck Balsamo. Chuck stated, “Whatever fails to kill us makes us better and stronger! Adversity isn’t supposed to be the end of us; it is merely the backdrop of our defining moments. When we face challenges, our smoldering greatness has a chance to flash out for all to see. So guess what, my friend? Those excruciating challenges you’ve been protesting all this time are not going to kill you! In fact, they have been sent to showcase your greatness! Just hold on and you’ll see. Everything is really working out to your advantage, and after God gets finished turning the current hellish trial into your next big win, the devil will wish he had never laid eyes on you. If he had only known how you would come through this fiery furnace with a hefty promotion, he would have never thrown you down into the flames!”

So if you’re in a pit today, wondering if you’ll ever see the light of day, know God’s unmerited favor is resting upon you. Speak His favor over your situation and watch and see the Lord lift you out of the pit and turn that great mountain of human obstacle into a mere molehill!

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. —Psalm 18:16-20

NOW SPEAK TO YOUR MOUNTAIN:

For who are you, O great mountain of (your obstacle)? Before (your name) you shall become a plain, mere molehill. I speak grace, grace to (your obstacle)! My God is greater than you!

 

Amanda Beth is a wife of fifteen years, mother of four children, and author of You Can Have a Happy Family – Steps to Enjoying Your Marriage and Children (available at: Amazon & Barnes & Noble). She has experienced a transformation in her life and marriage since she surrendered her heart to Christ ten years ago. She now passionately desires to help other individuals and families find healing in Christ. Her teachings on marriage and spiritual growth can be found on her website (amandabeth.net) and her blog (sharingtruths.com).