Since this is my blog, I suppose I can use it for whatever purpose I see fit.  Today, it’s my confession booth.

I was doing some writing last week and I wrote a list of “Struggles I’m Having”.  Here’s one to try on for size…let me know if you’re struggling in this area at all as well.

Valuing some people more than others.

How this one came about was no good.  I was reading a blog post by Dino Rizzo about speaking God’s Word with Joyce Meyer in India in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of people.  Amazing right?

Yes, except that in my head I said to myself “yeah, but they’re only Indians.” To which God responded gently, “yes, and I love them too.” I felt horrible.  I’m such a tool.  I felt absolutely sick at my complete lack of care, simply because in their culture way more people come out to hear God’s Word preached.  It’s easier to draw a crowd when your population is huge, so I just wrote them off.  I considered them less simply because they weren’t like me or my friends.

I leaned back in my IKEA Poang chair and sighed- I am an absolute loser.  It brought back some other instances where I’ve done the same thing.  How I treat poor people.  How I’ll take so much more crap from a rich person. Other cultures.  Different levels of education.  People with past sexual sin or a lot of junk in their past.  How I treat attractive girls versus what I consider unattractive, as if I’m the judge anyway!

It’s horrible, I hate it, and I know it’s wrong.  God loves everyone.  Everyone has the same value to Him- priceless.

And I’m not the only one who does it…

At Catalyst two years ago, there was a huge book-signing line for Erwin McManus.  About 10 feet away, Erwin’s right-hand-man and lead pastor of their church, Eric Bryant, was trying to hand out free copies of his new book.  People weren’t that interested.  He wasn’t the star they’d come to see.  He was a ‘nobody.’  I went over and talked for about 10 minutes.  He gave me a book, signed it, and gave me his card.  He was a great guy, and his book was excellent.  Most people got Erwin’s scribble- I got to hear a man’s heart.

What about rating pastors?  Most pastors get all the glory, and everyone backing them up get nothing.  What the heck is up with that?  If there’s one place where there shouldn’t be any childish celebrity, it should be in the Body of Christ.  Jesus Christ is my hero.  He’s the man I set above all else.  No one else is good enough for me.  And that’s precisely why I’m called to love everyone else.  Because no one was good enough for Jesus, but He still took us in.  We love because He first loved us right?

And so, I’m doing my best to be intentional- to make it a life habit of helping the underdogs.  Of befriending the poor.  Of being kind to waitresses.  Of slowing down to communicate with people still learning our language. To be nice, kind, even love strangers.  I want my life to count for Christ.  And so I’m trying to value everyone…the same.

That’s my confession today.