If you feel like you’re seeing tattoos more and more these days, you’re right. I read recently that 36% of adults 18 - 29 have a least one tattoo. Most are hidden.
My dad had a tattoo on his forearm. He told me that he and his buddies in WWII all got one to mark the occasion of crossing the equator. It was literally a “rite of passage”.
I’ve heard it’s a painful process and that the tattoo needle punctures your skin 100 times a second.
Ouch.
But people do it to mark special occasions like the birth of a child or to remember a loved one who has passed away. Occasionally someone will ink the name of their current boyfriend of girlfriend — which most later regret.
Frankly, I don’t see myself ever getting a tattoo. I’m too cheap to pay someone good money to hurt me.
But let’s say for the sake of argument that one day I decided to get one. I know exactly what I would get! I would get the word “shalom” written in Hebrew on my inner forearm.
I love that word. It’s one of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture.
For centuries Jewish people have greeted one another or said goodbye to one another by saying, “Shalom”. The literal translation is “peace”. So when you hear someone say “shalom” they mean “peace be with you”.
However, there is a deeper meaning.
While the word literally means “peace”, it’s really about being in a “state of peace”. To experience “shalom” is to experience a “peaceful serenity”. It is to be at peace with one’s situation in life despite any negative circumstances that may exist.
When you say “Shalom” what you are really saying is, “I hope you are at peace — no matter what happens in your life.”
That’s profound.
And elusive.
The word is used some 200 times in the Bible. Once you understand what shalom means it adds so much meaning to those passages.
For example, Isaiah 26:3 says: “You will keep him in perfect peace (shalom) whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
God told the people through the prophet Jeremiah: “But seek the welfare (shalom) of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare (shalom) you will find your welfare (shalom).”
“There is no peace (shalom) for the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21).
In the New Testament the Greek equivalent of shalom is “eirēnēn”.
This is the word Jesus uses in John 14:27 when He says: “Peace (shalom/eirēnēn) I leave with you; My peace (shalom/eirēnēn) I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
And consider the beautiful promise of shalom we find in 2 Thessalonians 3:16 — “Now may the Lord of peace (shalom/eirēnēn) Himself give you peace (shalom/ eirēnēn) at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
God wants us to experience shalom, to be at peace no matter what our situation. Jesus Himself promised that He would give us this peace.
“Shalom I leave with you; My shalom I give to you.”
But, as I said, it’s elusive.
Life is full of disruptions and aggravations, heartaches and losses, disappointments and disillusionment. It’s hard to experience shalom in the midst of all that.
Yet, shalom is the promise of God (Isaiah 26:3). Shalom is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s involvement in our hearts and lives (Galatians 5:22-23). Shalom should be the natural result of knowing the Lord of shalom (2 Thessalonians 3:16).
Someone has written:
“Shalom is the breadth, depth, climate, and smell of the kingdom of God. It’s a counter-story, with nothing missing and nothing lost for everyone who reads it. …Shalom is what happens when the love of God meets our most tender places.” (from Shalom Sistas by Osheta Moore)
There have been moments when I have experienced shalom and times when I have let the world steal it away from my heart.
But I am in pursuit of it!
And I believe that the more we yield our heart and life to Jesus Christ, the more we trust Him with all our heart, the more we shall know this peace.
That is what I wish for you, my friends. Shalom!