I heard a man speak at a funeral one day.  When he got up to speak, he had long, white hair that extended below his shoulders.  He had quite a few tattoos.  He kind of looked like a tatted hippie, and my first thought was, “He doesn’t look like a Christian.”   I would like to state, right up front, that I am NOT who determines whether or not someone is a faithful Christian.  God does that, and I am not God.  That being said, we should be able to observe someone to determine if they at least appear to be a faithful child of God.  So let’s work on that.

What does a Christian “look” like?  Is he young or old?  Yes.  Is he a man or a woman?  Yes.  Does he, especially if he is a man, have short hair?  Maybe, but we aren’t really told in scripture if a man has to have short hair, long hair or even any hair at all.  Does he have eyeglasses?  Scripture really does not say anything about this, as eyeglasses are believed to have been invented in the last 13^th century. 

Does he have tattoos?  This one can be a little tricky.  According to the Law of Moses, the Israelites were not supposed to mark their bodies with tattoos(Lev. 19:28).  However, we are not under that Law of Moses.  Hebrews 8:13 states that Jesus ushered in a new covenant, replacing the old covenant(a reference to the Law of Moses).  If we are not under the Law of Moses, then it does not apply.  This is 100% correct; however, the Law of Moses does help us to understand things that God finds offensive or contrary to Himself.  For example, Proverbs 6:16-19 lists seven things that are detestable to God.  And if something is detestable to God, even if you do not find a specific prohibition against it in the New Testament, it is probably best to avoid it.  [Note:  this list was not part of the Law of Moses.]  That being said, he could have acquired the tattoos before becoming a Christian.

There are other things I could state that might make you wonder if he is a Christian if you were to see him walking down the street.  But does a Christian “look” a certain way?  Based on everything I have read in the New Testament, the answer would be “no.”  Christians come in all shapes and sizes, so to speak.   In Galatians 3:28, Paul said that a Christian could be a Jew or a Greek(so basically any ethnicity), a slave or a free person(that also covers everyone) or a man or a woman.  In Isaiah 2:2, God told Isaiah that people from all nations would flow into the kingdom that He would set up(a reference to the kingdom of Jesus, the church or Christians).

Based on what we are told, a Christian can look like just about anyone.  It is important to note that we have been looking at the person’s outward appearance, and that is exactly what I wanted to focus on.  The point is that just looking at someone, you would never be able to determine if they are a Christian or not.  Instead, we have to look at their heart, to the extent that we can.  What we typically call their heart or mind and what I would call “the person,” is what we need to examine to decide if they are being faithful to God or not.  Jesus said that you would be able to know someone by their fruits(i.e. what they were accomplishing) in Matt. 7:15-20.  He also said you would be able to know if someone was a disciple based on their love for one another in John 13:35.   God is letting us know that we look at what the person does to determine if they are a faithful child of God.  Not that we are looking for perfection(only Jesus was perfect), but that we are looking for someone like David, someone who is a person after God’s own heart(Acts 13:22), meaning that they try think like God, they want to do the things of God.

I realize it can be a difficult thing to do, but when you meet someone, don’t make assumptions about their faithfulness, or lack thereof, based on hair, clothes or any other appearance-type issues.  Instead, try to look at the person.  And for ourselves, let’s try to BE the person that God wants us to.  Let us be people after God’s own heart.