I witnessed a most remarkable event while sitting in a new-to-me Sabbath School study group a couple weeks ago.
Class time was over, and the other group in the room had finished closing prayer. Our leader was wrapping up loose ends and getting ready for our own prayer when a quiet girl shared a story from her week, apparently as a prayer request.
Her boyfriend had asked a church member how to get closer to God. The lady responded, “You can start by taking out your tongue-ring.” He did. “Now throw it away.” He did. It was hard for me to hear her, and the absurdity of it made me doubt what I thought had been spoken. But there was no time to process.
The girl in class quickly followed with the reality that her boyfriend still had an eyebrow ring. “Well, just keep praying for him,” one class member shared. “Yes, and God can see past the external to his heart,” another said.
There was too much against me—it was time to end, it was my first time visiting their discussion group, I wasn’t sure I’d heard everything correctly. All I could stammer was something like, “But in the bigger picture, piercings—they’re not really that big of a deal.”
Seconds later as we prayed our closing on the group, I wanted to shout, “Getting rid of the tongue-ring isn’t going to get him the slightest bit closer to God! Why keep praying that he’ll get rid of the other ring?! Pray that you’ll all stop dwelling on appearances. God doesn’t need to see past his rings; they don’t matter!!!”
Show me in the gospels who cared about appearances. It wasn’t Jesus; it was the religious leaders who he railed against.
Is that the best we can do when someone wants to be closer to God, tell them how to look? How about, “Let’s read the Psalms together and learn how to pray about anything you’re experiencing. God is with you and wants to share it all—the good, the bad, and the overwhelmingly devastating.”
God help us all! And why can't I think faster?
6 comments:
It's hard to pronounce words when you have a junk yard in your tongue. God doesn't look kindly when you call him a great dog when you try to say great god. Ok, on a serious note, you always find the right time to voice, you will voice you concerns when the time is right. We are thinking of you guys and hope your vision/journey is clearing.
Fehl sud. (Let me take off my rings.)
I mean, "well said." It's hard for me to type correctly when I have my hands full of a junk yard. You're hilarious.
Have we been above 14,000 ft a few times together? Both of us have had dreams of hanging out with the crew in Greeley/Evans.
I have a friend who pastored in CA. A young woman came one day who had holey jeans and an old t-shirt. A 'saint' went to her, said, "That's not how we dress here. Let me take you next door to the Dorcas room and get you a dress." They never saw her again. When will we realize that 'whitewashed coffins' have NO LIFE in them!
i never recover in time to say "WTF!" to people who think godliness has to do with outside layers and language. they need a good prayin' for. and now you have a couple good faces to offer up from your knees. i am saddened to find myself praying for christians, ones who should already know the basics, but i probably need the extra love myself. lots of deep, yogic breaths will help.
While I can't speak about the guy with the rings who I don't know, or the unnamed people in the anecdote who I may or may not know, I can say this.... It is true that the action of taking out a tongue ring or any other ring by itself has nothing to do with getting closer to God. What matters is why? Why are you wearing these things? Why are you taking them off? The comment that God can see past the exterior to see the heart I believe is valid, because God can see the answers to those questions. Telling someone they have to dress a certain way to be a better Christian can lead to changes on the exterior without changes to the heart. It is better to change the heart and see what other changes that might bring. Changing the heart will truly bring someone closer to God.
Thanks for the comment, Nick. Welcome to the blogosphere.
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