Valerie Rae Hanneman
Leviticus 19:27-28 "Don't cut the hair on the sides of your head or trim your beard. Don't gash your bodies on behalf of the dead. Don't tattoo yourselves. I am GOD.” (Message)
Sometime in May of 2004 I was reading the part of the Old Testament that talked about how all the slaves were to be freed in the Year of Jubilee. There was an exception to this rule that caught my imagination. That exception was for a slave that did not want to be freed from the master. This slave could chose to purposely remain a slave to this master for the rest of their lives. But there was more than simply making the choice. After the slave had declared his intentions his body was marked so that all would know his status. Deuteronomy 15:17a (Message) says, “then take an awl and pierce through his earlobe into the doorpost, marking him as your slave forever.” Once this commitment was made by the slave - there was no turning back.
That’s what captured my imagination. I take my greatest joy in being a slave to Jesus and it is a lifetime commitment for me - no turning back. So if I were going to mark my body to declare my slavery - what would it look like? Well, it wouldn’t do any good to pierce my ears - I already have plenty of piercings up there. The only other thing I could think of would be a tattoo. But what tattoo? It had to be something unique to me. I asked Willie (he being a professional at this sort of stuff) to tell me the Greek word for slave. He gave me the word “duelos” and explained that it meant a bond-servant whose own will is completely submerged in the will of the master. That is exactly what I want to be! So what else? How about a Celtic cross to represent both my faith and my heritage? Maybe do it in green to represent my new life in Him, and blue to represent following Him in the waters of baptism. I decided to put it on my wrist with “duelos” placed in the spot where the nails pierced Jesus’ wrists because I wanted the mark of my slavery to be in the same place where His marks of sacrifice are. I had my unique tattoo planned. Now the big question was, “Do I have the guts to purposely subject myself to that kind of pain.” Anyway - I thought that was the big question.
I started sharing my idea with some others and was astonished by the reaction I got. A surprising number of people told me that the Word said that we were not to tattoo our bodies. I asked them where that verse was and this verse in Leviticus is what they gave me. Well, there it is - right there in the Word - no tattoos. So I abandoned my idea of a tattoo.
But the more I thought about this verse - the more I had problems with it. My first thought was this - am I saved by grace or am I saved by the law? Is my salvation dependent on my following the Mosaic Law or is it entirely dependent on God’s grace as manifest in the sacrificial death of Jesus? Praise God - my salvation is entirely dependent on Him. So I am not bound by the Mosaic Law. And that is a good thing. Check out these verses in Leviticus. If we are bound by the Mosaic Law, there are a lot of clean-shaven men in our church who are in a lot of trouble - including our senior pastor (who cuts off his beard every time it gets to looking good!)
If I am not bound by the Mosaic Law, am I bound by any law - man’s or God’s? No, I am not. Again, it comes back to the question - am I saved by grace or by works? If there is a law that would cause me to lose my salvation if I broke it - then my salvation is based on my actions - by my works. But Father says, “It is by grace you are saved..a gift of God...not of works” (Eph 2:8-9.) My salvation is solely based on God’s grace to me. And I am glad of that - because where would the line be drawn on the sins that would cause us to lose our salvation? Serial murderers? Child abusers? Rapists? Drug abusers? Tax cheaters? Adulterers? Gossipers? Petty thieves? Liars? Have I reached you yet? I was kicked out at drug abusers - and if I have not reached you yet, it would not be too many more naming of sins before I did. Praise God that when I accepted Him as Savior He forgave all of my sins - past, present and future. Romans 8:38-40 says that nothing in heaven or earth, past or present, life or death can separate us from the love of God. My sins cannot separate me from God.
If I am not forced to obey any laws - are there laws that I choose to obey? Yes there are. Jesus left me two laws. I am to love the LORD, my God, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength. And I am to love my neighbor as myself. I try to follow these laws daily - not because I fear God’s retribution if I don’t and not because I am afraid I will lose my salvation if I don’t. I choose to obey them because His love for me is so compelling and my love for Him is the foundation of my life. I obey because I want my life to be more about Him and less about me. I choose to obey because I choose to be His duelos.
When I make a decision I do not base my decision on the Mosaic law nor the laws of men. I make my decision based on the two commandments that I chose to follow when I chose to follow Him. First - will my actions harm any other person? Second - will it glorify Father and be an act of love towards Him?
When I ran the idea of getting my tattoo through these two commandments the answer was really different. Would getting a tattoo harm anybody else? I can’t imagine how it would. Next - would a tattoo glorify God and be an act of love towards Him? Yeah, it would - but only in an insignificant way. To be honest - I think God cares more that “duelos” is tattooed on my heart, on my mind, in my words and in my actions than if it is tattooed on my skin.
Besides, I think that maybe God has a tattoo - Isaiah 49:16a “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands;” (ESV) What a breathtaking thought - my name engraved on God’s palms.
In the end - I decided that there was nothing to stop me from getting a tattoo - well except that I am really a baby when it comes to pain.
Are you obeying God’s laws to keep your salvation? Are you obeying God’s laws because you fear Him? Are you obeying God’s laws because you have to? If you are - then you are wasting your time. He wants you to obey His laws because you love Him and desire to serve Him.
Father God, my heart’s desire is to be Your duelos. Draw me closer to You so that when the world looks at me - all they see is You.
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Posted by Valerie at March 4, 2005 08:45 PM