James and Betty Robison and Life Today!

Hello Friends!

I wanted to share some of the interview I did with Randy Robison with Life Today TV. Life Today

I will also be on Life Today with James and Betty Robison tomorrow Tuesday September 8th. I hope you will join in and share the lifegiving message of The God Who Sees You! Life Today with James and Betty

Every Person You Meet 

 

Jesus called it the Great Commandment—to love God with all we have and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. But it’s not always that simple, is it? Some people are easy to see and to understand, easy to love. Some people invite our compassion and make us want to reach out. But what about:

•     that woman at work who just won’t stop talking.

• the pushy phone solicitor.
• the guy on the corner, holding up a “will work for food” sign.
• the tattooed, pierced teenager hanging out at the coffee shop.
• the kid who beat up your kid at school.
• the ditzy teen who just cut you off in traffic because she was texting.
• the frumpy, middle-aged woman ahead of you in the grocery line.
• the woman at the rest stop that you suspect is a prostitute.
• the young man with Down syndrome.
• the old woman with Alzheimer’s.
• the guy who stole your identity.
• the IRS agent who audits you.
• the self-righteous Christian you encountered at the church you’ll never, ever visit again.
• the out-of-control young mother you had to sit next to in the emergency room.
• the rude clerk who messed up your bill.
• the hotshot who always manages to make you look bad at work.
• your friends when they get involved in their own lives and neglect you.
• your mother when she’s being needy and demanding.
• your father when he’s being stubborn and dictatorial.
• your husband when he’s acting clueless.
• your wife when she just won’t let it drop.
• your children when they push every button you have.

Every encounter with another human being brings a test. And with some of them, the test is really a challenge. Will we choose to see this person as God does? As our neighbor? As someone to love? Can we really get it through our heads that God sees every person we encounter exactly the way He sees us?

Each one was created in the image of God and bears a divine spark within him or her.

Each one is a sinner—just like you and me.

Each one has been sinned against—just as you and I have—and bears the scars of that sin. Each one suffers and struggles in ways we probably don’t know.

And every single person you and I meet is someone Jesus died for. Someone God loves passionately. Someone He wants to provide with a future and a hope.

Can you get your mind around that? Can you manage to look that way at every single person you meet?

Probably not. I know I fail at it all the time.

I have absolutely no difficulty seeing my husband or my kids and grandkids or my brother and sisters that way. (Well, most of the time.) But seeing people as God does becomes an uneasy choice when it comes to the people who make me uncomfortable. People who push my buttons. People who are tiresome and boring. People I don’t approve of. People who intimidate or hurt me. People I fear. People I just can’t stand.

I’m sure that’s true for you, too. So how do we learn to see those people as God sees them?

First, I’m convinced we won’t be able to manage it until we understand how God sees us. We can’t love others unless we know what it is to be loved. And we’re going to have a hard time seeing others unless we take it to heart that our heavenly Father takes notice of us and cares for us.

Second, I’m convinced we need to depend on the Holy Spirit within us to show us what we can’t easily see on our own. Our human empathy and understanding can only go so far. We need Christ within us to be able to see with God’s eyes.

And we won’t get it perfectly, of course—not here on earth. Just as we can only see God through a fog, we’ll always struggle to see other people clearly as well.

But every time we manage it, each time we shift our perspective to view another person the way God sees him or her, a little miracle happens.

Maybe even a big one.

 

Adapted from The God Who Sees You by Tammy Maltby (with Anne Christian Buchanan). Copyright 2012 David C. Cook. Used with permission. Permission required to reproduce. All rights reserved.  The God Who Sees You

Comments

[Diana Willis]

Hi Tammy,

I really enjoyed your interview with James and Betty this week! You are such a doll and so sweet.

I wanted to find out if you could help us out with a donation for an upcoming silent auction for the Kids Beach Club and our afterschool program of "Making Jesus Cool @ School" in over 100 schools here in TX. Our event is on October 20th and I was hoping you might be willing to add to an amazing library I am building to auction off. I love your books and have been so blessed to have read some of them this past year while working at Mardel. Thanks so much for being a vessel to share God's love with your books and ministry. You can email me at [email protected] and I will email you an address if you are able to assist us. Have an amazing Thursday and again thanks for being the special you that God created for all of us to share!! Diana

[tammy maltby]

Diana thank you so much for your note! Did you get the books?