Ok ladies... Here is where I get a little opinionated...
Last night after Bible study at our church a middle-aged man and father of a young child in our church was giving a teenage girl a very hard time about her lip piercing.
Pastor Chris had given everyone the opportunity to ask questions and we had just been discussing with the several teenagers in the room why their tattoos and piercings are not going to send them to hell. Pastor Chris explained to them that it is what is in their heart that matters, and that the people who say negative things to them about the way they look do not necessarily know their heart and are not the ones to judge in the first place. It is only God who can send us to heaven or hell. We discussed that our body is our temple and that we are instructed to care for it, but that a piercing or a tattoo (with a clean needle) is not harmful to our bodies. Drinking in excess, smoking, or doing drugs were the examples we gave the teenagers as things that would harm their temple. Furthermore, the body we have on earth will not be present in heaven.
So anyway, this guy who apparently was not listening to anything for the last 30 minutes of Bible study approached this young lady of 15 years and asked her if she thought it was respectful for her to have her piercing in during church. UHH... hello??? Why on earth do people in church so often do things to make people uncomfortable in church? Isn't church supposed to be the place to come and be restored? People don't come to church after they're fixed anymore than someone would join a gym after they got in shape!
These are teenagers, several with some form of gang affiliation, in church on a Wednesday night because they choose to be. Not because anyone is forcing them or because we're bribing them to be there. These kids are serious about making changes in their lives and getting on the right path. They've started bringing other kids from their neighborhood and even their parents to church.
We need to love people where they are and accept and overlook the little things that we may not always agree with and see the heart of the person. I know too many young people who do not want to go to church because they have been hurt by older people in their church. Young people need to come to church to get guidance and to learn about themselves and develop their faith. Older Christians cannot use the name of Jesus to talk to teenagers (or anyone) anykindaway (as my mother-in-law would say.)
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I love it! I agree wholeheartedly. I participate in the youth ministry at my church, and we are so adamant about building relationships with the teens. Being a teenager is not an easy task, but as adults, we can make it a lot easier by loving them where they are....girl, I'm about to hop on a soap box....drop by sometime!
ReplyDeleteOh Kelsey, I'm right there with you! (as a pierced and tattooed sinner-saved-by-grace myself!) Perry Noble is a pastor at a large church in South Carolina, and he always says that we can't expect lost people to come to church and look and act like Christians! They're not there yet! And who's to say that Christians aren't pierced and tattooed? I know many wonderful, strong, passionate, God-fearing, prayer warrioring (I might have made up that word) Christians who have gotten piercings or tattoos after coming to know Jesus. Maybe my tattoo makes me more approachable to someone who has never heard the gospel! (OK, I'll stop now..)
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