Tattoos are becoming very common these days. Men in the military or prison used to be the only people you saw with tattoos. Today, tattoos are common on both male and female. Almost every popular actress has at least one tattoo and I’ve seen them on female motorcyclist for years. Now, a nurse at my doctor’s office has one arm fully “sleeved out” and a waitress we had the other day had tattoos all the way down to her knuckles. People are quick to use Leviticus 19:28 as a reason Christians shouldn’t get tattoos but don’t get between some deacons and the back door of the church. My wife and I have even visit a church were group of Christians were taking a smoke break between Sunday school and the 11 o’clock service. I thought they were praying in a circle until I saw the gray smoke lift into the air. So which is worse?
To me, tattoos are like permanent clothes. Don’t put something on that will go out of style, doesn’t fit, or might make people question your belief in God. That pretty much covers it. A lot of people associate tattoos with the mark of the beast, too. They fail to realize that the 144,000 of God get marked, too (Rev. 7:3). Christ also has one (Revelation 19:16). People will judge you for tattoos, smoking, cutting your hair, not cutting your hair, drinking alcohol, watching porn, cussing, and even overeating (among other things). However, there is one scripture that answers them all.
Our main duty (something that must be done) is to worship God (Psalm 66:4). Jesus even taught that God seeks true worshipers (John 4:21-24). I like Paul’s teaching, too. Romans 12 is like 21 verses to living a proper Christian life. The verse that ends all personal prejudices is Romans 12:1. The NLT says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” If your body is to be a holy, living sacrifice, then smoking, drinking, overeating, not exercising, homosexuality, porn, skydiving, and bad drugs are among the things that make you unholy. Paul even listed a bunch of these practices in Galatians 5:19-21: “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” But Romans 12:1 covers everything. You can’t do any of these things and be a holy and living sacrifice to God.
We shouldn’t criticize people for having nice tattoos but we should encourage each other to do what is right. Tattoos are not all bad but there are bad tattoos. People are not all bad but there are bad people. God is looking for true worshipers and you can’t do that if you’re trying to kill the body He gave you to use. We should be living to worship instead of dying to worship.