On this week's Truth on the Go Podcast we hear from Andrea Lennon and her sweet friend Susan Goss founder of Tangible Truth Ministries. Andrea and Susan talk about love as a way of life. These two women encourage us to ask God for His creativity so we can shine with open hearts that are sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We hear about Susan’s new book called, “We’re Still In This.” (Day Spring Publishing Company) One take away is the concept of Giving Extra Grace. Let’s dive deeper together into what that looks like in tangible ways!
In the Bible we find two scriptures from Romans 3:23 and Romans 3:10 teaching us that we have all fallen short of the glory of God, and that there is not one of us on earth who is perfect. Susan tells us that we must become people who welcome feedback. Who desire to speak in a manner that all of God’s people can understand and not be offended in the process. This means at times we must pause, reflect, and often re-write or re-think our words before they are spoken. We have to be willing to meet people where they are, not where we think they should be in our limited perspective of life.
Andrea reads to us John 13:34-35 which says, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (New International Version) This passage reminds us to live out of the abundance of the overflow of what God has poured into our souls. Andrea and Susan encourage us to love deeply and fully realizing that we must be easy with grace. You see, God loves deeply and fully the person we happen to be struggling with today.
Andrea encourages us to step back and ask, "How am I looking at the person I am struggling with? Am I looking through a point of view of what I want and need or with Christ's eyes seeing them the way He sees them?" The cold hard facts are this. God doesn’t need us, yet in His goodness and grace, He chooses to call us by our name and not our sin. God loves us all equally, regardless of our gifts, looks, abilities, platforms, talents, or shortcomings. Susan challenges us to ask the Lord to help us love those we find hard to like. She then says we should pray for them because when we are praying for someone it’s hard to gossip about them. Daily we have the chance to to engage in the spiritual battle of fighting for the woman around us to become who God has called her to be asking the Lord to grow us though each encounter. The truth is that if we want to love well, we have to slow down. We can’t love in a hurry. Love is intentional!
Susan shares with our listeners that we have to be willing to sacrifice winning in order to cultivate relationships. Always wanting to be right or having the last word is prideful. If with other believers we win the argument and, in the process, loose the friendship, then in God's eyes we missed the mark and the blessing. Andrea reads to us from Romans 12:10 which says for us to be devoted to one another in love as we honor the other person above ourselves. This means leaving room for the Holy Spirit, knowing that the words I say don’t change the outcome, but God's perfect love does. Susan tells us to give freely to others our undivided attention as we leave space and margin in our day for the Lord to move. When we do, we are fully present in the moment with the person God has placed in our path.
Tune in to TOTG to enter a God grounded, God energized, and God passionate discussion from two wonderful women who usher us into experiencing Gods love, compassion, and extra grace for the right now of today!
Jessica Brown, True Vine Blogger