Good morning family,
The other day, I had to call an exterminator to take care of some termite sightings we had on our roof. I reached out to my mom, because she had recently dealt with the same thing and had had her home treated. When the exterminator arrived to our house, I noticed he had a large tattoo of three crosses on his neck. They were side-by-side, like the image we have of Calvary. As he was spraying the house, we spoke about various topics, including God and faith, but he didn’t open that door much.
But when he was leaving, though, we dove a little deeper into faith. He told me he had been going to a Christian church but left when he noticed that he was being judged because of his tattoos. He then lifted up the sleeves of his shirt to show me the ink on his arms. And then he said something that crushed my heart. As he stared at the tattoos on his arms, he said “God doesn’t want me with all of this.”
This man walked away from his relationship with Jesus because he felt judged. How many times have we judged and, in doing so, pushed someone away from God? I told him how much Jesus loves him and to never allow anyone to take that away from him.
This made me think about so many things, but the one thing that kept replaying in my head is this: Wearing your sins on your sleeves.
We’re all sinners, this we should know. The bible says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” How many of us are able to hide our sins of judgement, envy, hate, anger, lust (and the list goes on and on). But what about those who can’t or won’t hide their sins. The ones that wear them on their sleeves for all to see. Are we judging them, or loving them? Would it be different if your sins would come out on your sleeves? Imagine what God could do if we just love others, sin and all. The impact would be limitless because He is limitless. I am speaking to myself as I write this and have to constantly remind myself that we might be the only Jesus a person may ever see. Should we be standing on that pedestal of righteousness and ignoring what Jesus has called us to do?
After the exterminator left, I called my mom to thank her and told her what had happened. She told me that the guy who came to her house didn’t have any tattoos. I told her she must have been mistaken because he was covered in tattoos. But I quickly realized that the person who went to her house was not the same person that came to my house. The one who came to my house was in need of hearing that he is loved by God.
Praying that we would all have an opportunity to be a light of Christ to someone.
Blessed by serving,
Jorge