Beautiful Bruises

Some people have snow days. Here in the Middle East, we have dust days. And one recent morning, as sand filled the sky and a blanket of dust covered the city, the school where I teach declared a dust day.

Since I wasn’t going to work, I took our new cat to the veterinarian for some shots. While an assistant tried to constrain the highly-agitated beast, the vet came in to administer the shots.

I was not much help in controlling the cat, however, because I was too distracted by the vet’s forehead. I could not stop staring at the large spot of irregular skin on his forehead.

It wasn’t just a light bruise. It was beyond bruised. This was something that had developed over many days, months, and years.

We talk about our faith everywhere; we want our trust in Jesus Christ to be evident.

It’s not the first time I’d seen something like this. Actually, I see it almost every day. Many men in our city have similar bruises.

And they’re caused by praying. Some Muslims develop bruises like these as they touch their foreheads to the floor during their five daily prayers. It doesn’t happen to everyone. In fact, many people try to protect their heads by touching the floor softly as they bow down in prayer.

But others hit the floor with more force. Many years of repetition cause the bruise to turn into a dark, rough patch of skin—an external sign of a person who prays fervently.

We all bear the signs of things we believe in or are motivated by. As followers of Christ, we want others to see our external markers and identify us as people who love the ways of God.

For generations, Jewish people have recited verses in Deuteronomy 6 every day as a declaration of devotion to God.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. — Deuteronomy 6:4-9

In praying these verses, they proclaimed they were people who listen to and follow His commands. For this reason, the passage is known as the shema, a Hebrew word that means to listen and obey.

May our ‘shema’ lifestyles be so clear that they see Jesus when they see us.

Whenever we meet someone new in our city, we identify ourselves as followers of Christ by sharing what we call shema statements. These simple statements express that we are people who love God and love others. They often open doors for spiritual conversations.

We talk about our faith everywhere—in our home, among our local friends, while shopping—because we want our trust in Jesus Christ to be as evident in our lives as a dark, scaly bruise on the forehead.

For example, when we meet new people, we are often asked, “Are you a Muslim?”

Answering, “No, we are Christians,” usually closes the opportunity for dialogue. So, we reframe our answers to be more spiritually conspicuous.

A different answer may be, “I pray, I fast, and I am submitted to God, and I follow Jesus. Have you ever learned about Jesus in the holy books?” By returning with a question, we create fruitful dialogue.

Pray for us as we carry the aroma of Christ to those around us, showing that we follow God. And pray that Muslims in our city would be eager to engage with the message of the Gospel. May our shema lifestyles be so clear that they see Jesus when they see us.