Greenwood: Jewelry, tattoos not the measure of us

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Have you ever wondered what is going through the mind of another person?

I’m talking about the person who cuts you off in traffic or the person who wears jewelry that requires large holes in their ears.

Sometimes we have a tendency to think the person who cuts us off in traffic did it deliberately, instead of giving the person the benefit of the doubt and realizing it could have been a mistake.

At the same time, we tend to judge others for looking different than ourselves because they wear exotic jewelry or they are covered in tattoos instead of taking the time to get to know the person and why they express themselves the way they do.

The point is, we all make mistakes like the driver who cuts someone off and we all have our own way of expressing who we are, like the person who wears exotic jewelry.

I’ve made mistakes. Some mistakes were small. Some mistakes were big.

I also admit I do not understand the person who wears exotic jewelry, nor do I understand the person with tattoos or, for that matter, even skinny jean boy bands.

The only jewelry I wear is my wedding band because I do not like the feel of jewelry. I have never gotten a tattoo and skinny jeans do not look comfortable.

Some of my friends have tried exotic jewelry and some of my friends have tattoos and, more recently, some of my friends wear skinny jeans. I may not understand why and maybe I should take the time to find out why, but I realize I should never judge others based on their outward expressions.

Just like that person who cuts us off in traffic, religious people, including myself, have a tendency to judge people by their outward expressions. The Bible has many rules, which include not wearing jewelry or fancy clothing (1 Peter 3:3), and to not get tattoos (Leviticus 19:28).

There are 613 laws written in the Bible. It would be impossible for every person to follow every one of these rules and not make a mistake by breaking a law.

The reality is we are human. We are going to make mistakes and we are going to break the law every once in a while.

The even bigger reality to understand is why laws are made. We have a speed limit to keep us safe, but it could easily be said that we have a speed limit because the government is trying to control the people.

When we come to the realization that man-made laws are for our protection, we can better appreciate those laws. The same can be said for the laws in the Bible.

Many Biblical laws can be described as obscure and weird, but when we realize tattoos were forbidden because at the time they were a form of worship toward other gods and jewelry or fancy clothing was forbidden because it was a form of self-worship, we come to a better understanding of why these rules were made.

By studying the laws of the Bible, I have discovered great character traits about God and why He implemented the laws He did. I have discovered that God is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14) and therefore He does not want us worshipping other gods, other people or even ourselves.

It is the same jealous feeling a person gets when their spouse cheats with another person.

In my opinion, God has every right to be jealous and He has every right to make whatever rule He wants because, just like the creator of a board game gets to make up the rules of the game, God, being the creator of the universe, gets to make up the rules of life.

The problem is, we look at God’s rules as black and white, when in reality, they were made for our protection, to bring us closer to God and to set us apart from the world (Leviticus 20:26).

Overall, I believe God is looking for men and women to be set apart from the current culture, but more importantly he is examining our hearts (Proverbs 21:2) searching for men and women who will have a relationship with him.

Pastor Jamie Greenwood is lead pastor of Faith Pentecostal Assembly in Glencoe.



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