Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Pastor Chuck Allen, back with another weekday podcast. And we've been talking this week about how do you have difficult conversations about sensitive subjects and represent Christ.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Well, as a follower of Jesus today, I want us to kind of transition a little bit and figure out how do you speak truth and yet at the same time carry grace?
I'm really glad you joined me for this conversation, because there's a tension that most Christians feel today.
We know we're called to stand for truth, but we also know we're called to love deeply. And sometimes it feels like those two
[00:00:49] Speaker B: things are pulling in opposite directions.
So what actually do we do?
Well, Ephesians 4:15 gives us the answer. We will speak the truth in love, going in every way, more and more like Christ.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Truth in love, not truth. Instead of love, not truth that avoids truth and not love that avoids truth. But both held together, bound in the same conversation.
Here's where it gets super real. Truth without love can feel like a weapon. There's something banging on your head like a ball, ping hammer.
And love without truth can feel empty, like, well, a hollow conversation. But when the two come together, they reflect Jesus wonderfully. The problem is, a lot of conversations
[00:01:38] Speaker B: about sensitive issues really lose that balance. We either come in strong with truth and leave people wounded, which I'm really good at, or we avoid truth altogether
[00:01:49] Speaker A: with the attempt to keep peace. Jesus never did either. He was full of grace and full of truth, full of both. So how do we live that out? First, check your posture before your position.
Ask yourself this question, Am I entering this conversation to love this person? Or am I in this conversation to try to win something, to prove something?
Because your posture shapes your words more than your preparation ever could?
[00:02:20] Speaker B: That's worth repeating.
Your posture will shape your words more than your preparation ever possibly could. Second, remember, you're not the Holy Spirit. It's not your job to convict or change someone's heart.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: That is God's work and God's work only.
Your role is to be faithful and to represent Jesus well.
John 13:3, or, I'm sorry, John 13:35 says it this way. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you're my disciples.
Now let's stop and just work through that a little more slowly. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Not your arguments, not your opinions, your love. There's the evidence.
So when you speak, let your words be seasoned with grace.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Let your tone reflect humility, and let your goal be connection, not correction. Because people are more likely to receive truth when they feel safe, not when they feel judged. And here's the beautiful part. When you lead with love, you don't weaken the truth. You make it visible. You make it believable. You make it look like Jesus.
So today as you step into conversations that matter, remember this. You don't have to win.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: You just have to be faithful, speak truth, carry grace and trust God with the rest.
When you trust God with the rest, what you're really saying is he knows
[00:04:02] Speaker A: better than I do. He knows how to solve this better than I ever will and he will do his work. I can count on that. So my friend, unload all that and don't carry that weight, don't carry that tension, don't carry that stress.
Go ahead and just simply let grace take over. God bless you, friend. Thanks so much for joining me on this weekday podcast.
