So for about a year now I’ve been saying that phrase in reference to my own struggles with ADD and the realities of me being a bit of a loose canon.  At first it just flew out of my mouth kind of non chalantly and people just cracked up when I said it… so as with anything that comes with performance… if it works you keep it.  So every night when I would walk on stage and share a bit of my heart with people I would basically have fun at my own expense and then finish the thought off with the phrase that inevitably led to a good laugh for everyone in the audience.  Obviously that’s what we strive for; interaction, comedy, fun, honesty.  Before long Michael, being the marketing wizard that he, is came up with a great idea….. “That needs to be a shirt man“.  At first I doubted that it was possible that a shirt like that would work, but then after a bit of coaxing Michael finally convinced me that we needed to try it and so we did.

Low and behold, the first night that we sold that shirt it went like hot cakes.  Ever since that first night it’s been even more fun to laugh about my zany personality and drop the phrase “Don’t Hate it God Made it“.  It’s one of my favorite things to talk about though.  How God made me crazy because he knew that I had to be a bit ADD to be able to juggle all the different things that I juggle in my life.  Husband, Father, Worship Pastor, Lead Singer, small business owner…. all of those require my full attention and the ability to jump from one to another at the drop of a hat.
So, how about that, God DIDN’T make a mistake with my ADD!!
When I share that bit of wisdom I see people smile from ear to ear as they begin to realize that they are not a mistake either.  That God has uniquely gifted them to serve a purpose only they can serve in His kingdom is something that they may just be realizing in the moment.
This morning however I woke up with a wild thought.  What if the whole point of that shirt was to remind me that there really are some people that are hated that really shouldn’t be hated.  I’m gonna get to my point here in a minute, but I just want to be real with you guys for a second.

There are some people that I struggle to love.

I hate to admit it, but I struggle to find compassion for some people.  Mostly because I equate the mistakes that I know they’ve made to them being SINNERS and DEAD WRONG. I was reading Bob Goff’s book the other day and I had something really jump off the page at me.  He said this:
“if someone asks what I think about capital punishment, instead of reciting the party line and parroting someone else’s thoughts, I think of a teenager named Kevin (a friend in Uganda) in a prison accused of a capital crime.  If the topic is same sex attraction, I think of a dear friend who is gay.  Now, instead of talking about an issue, I’m talking about a person; someone who matters to me”
So my question is this:  Who do I hate??  When I’ve been called to LOVE THE SINNER, and hate only the SIN?

How much differently would a racist old white man treat a black man if he actually took time to know the man, his family, and his hopes and dreams?

What about the Homosexual?

What about the muslim?

What about the bully?

What about the drunkard?

What about the addict?

What about the (on and on and on and on)

Who do we presume to become judge and jury on when we have been told “Judge not, lest you be judged”?
Suddenly a funny little statement has checked me BIG TIME.  I’m kind of wishing that I had enough room on a t-shirt to put:
“HEY YOU, YEAH, SINNER….. LIKE ME, I LOVE YOU, CAUSE JESUS LOVES YOU AND THERE IS STILL HOPE.”
Yeah I get it, God can’t stand the sight of sin, but have you thought about YOUR thought life lately?  Have you thought about the words that come out of your own mouth when no one else is around?  Have you thought about how GREEDY you are sometimes?  Maybe more importantly HAVE I?  Creation and all that is in it is Created by God for His purposes.  I believe that.  Yeah we’ve perverted a lot of things that weren’t ever meant to be messed up, but at the core of the issue is still the soul of man.  The lost world going to HELL.  Are we really cool with some people going there because we disagree with “who they’ve become?”  EVERY PERSON, no matter how messed up, IS ONE STEP AWAY FROM REDEMPTION. Why wouldn’t we attempt to help anybody take that step?

Don’t Hate it God Made it…..

NOW what does that shirt mean to you???

JRoy