About sharin’ His love

Welcome to sharin’ His love.

Erick, my husband, and I are the primary sharers so far. Here’s a pic so you know who you’re talking to. We  have a wonderful “love story” about God bringing us together. I’ll write that story one day and put it on the top of our blog. Meanwhile:

 

I’m not a very eloquent writer…just down to earth. So much of the content of our site will be gleaned from sources that we have found useful. We hope you will find messages that will help you as you study the scriptures.

Our advice is to “always check anyone’s opinion and compare it to what the Bible says on the subject”. The Holy Spirit is the true interpreter, not human beings.

Some articles or messages may suggest opinions that you are welcome to question or write a comment concerning. That is one of the purposes of this site–to study, discuss,  and hopefully come to a common understanding that will honor God.

How we came up with our name:

sharin’ His love originated from the scripture:

Mark 12:29-31 (New King James Version)    ²⁹ Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. ³⁰ And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. ³¹ And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Trusting God is the only way to become all He has planned for our lives . It is the most important desire of our lives.

sharin’ His love is all about learning and growing together to run the race that God has set before us while we are here in our temporary home.

Whether we learn from God’s inspired Word through studying the Bible or through sharing the insights and inspiration given us from the Holy Spirit, we grow into the likeness of our Lord and Savior,  Jesus Christ.

God bless you.

Erick & Sharon

About the Header on this message:

The very best movie I have ever seen about Jesus was The Visual Bible™’s “Matthew.”

I searched online for some pictures that would show some of the scenes from that movie because it touched me so deeply.

Here are a few excerpts from the book written by Bruce Marchiano (the actor who played the part of Jesus in the movie). The book is about his experiences he had as he studied for the part.
In the Footsteps of Jesus. Copyright © 1997 by Bruce Marchiano. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon  97402 and Visual Entertainment, Dallas, Texas  75248

Oh, what a surprise lay in store!  Every day (studying for the role), every day on the set was a lifetime of uncovering treasures of  indescribable passion, care, and giving beyond giving.  With all I’d previously known; with all the sermons I’d heard and all the hymns I’d sung, I knew nothing.  The intimacy, the devotion, the heart-cry, the eye-to-eye attention, the purity, the passion—so much more than any of us can wrap our minds around.  An explosion of unbridled involvement so opposite the stereotype of an aloof and mystical Christ with arms outstretched and eyes locked heavenward.

And did you ever notice how Jesus never used His power to destroy opposition or lavish Himself with luxuries?   He could turn five fish sandwiches into 5,000 and raise people from the dead; but never did He zap Himself a nice lobster dinner, or a cushy carriage, or anything like that—things most of us would do right away, given the chance.  Where did Jesus exercise His power to do anything for Himself?  Nowhere!  It must have blown the people’s minds to see it:  He always used His miracle power only for other people.  What kind of remarkable man would make such a remarkable choice?   Jesus, that’s Who.

His every move, every word, every healing, every rebuke, every drop of blood—an act of love!  From the moment He lay in the manger to the day He disappeared behind the clouds—all acts of love.  Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God—simply, purely, completely, and unshakably on a mission of redemptive love!

Consistently, He spoke truth against a sea of opposition.  Shockingly, He lived fully in His personal life exactly what He preached in public.  Time after time, He stood heroically alone for what was right, regardless of what it might cost Him.  Without hesitation, He went out of His way to care for the most objectionable people of society, never turning a hungry soul away, always taking time to love an unlovable or care for an uncareable, knowing He would suffer ridicule and rejection for it.  Humbly and openly, He marched across cultural barriers, decrying centuries of racist arrogance.   Never a respecter of persons, unconcerned with status, wealth, gender, or popularity, He stood, champion and friend of the ‘little guy.’  And for all this and more, He constantly took it on the chin, keeping His mouth shut, His face set like flint, eyes riveted on His greater cause and mission.

Jesus confronts the legalistic Pharisees. (Bruce Marchiano in “Matthew”)This was truly a Man among men, bigger than life itself yet as down-to-earth as it gets.  This was the ultimate definition of masculinity, the very personification of character and integrity.   We all go crazy for the big-screen hero. But take a look at Jesus—a solitary figure, bruised and bleeding—the sword of Truth His only weapon.  Picture Him raising it again and again, fighting an army of world attitudes:   ‘Lie, cheat—anything goes!’   ‘He who dies with the most toys wins!’   Picture Him storming in against overwhelming opposition, giving His literal all—His very life—to rescue the helpless, the widowed, the orphaned, the crushed, the rejected, the despised.  I don’t know about you, but in my book, that’s the living definition of “hero.”

Jesus was a man of excitement, a man of giving, a man of living, a MAN  OF JOY.  And the joy He lived was so much more than just a sunburst smile; it was a joy that lived and breathed in a fullness of passion founded in desperate love and celebrated in everything He said and did.  It was a joy whose ultimate expression was not a robust belly laugh, though belly-laugh He did, but rather a trio of nails through the hands and feet; for as the book of Hebrews puts it, “For the joy set before Him (He) endured the cross.”  Joy.  Not as the world knows it, but as He defined it—living, breathing, walking, dying—

Jesus the Christ . . . Man of Joy.

From Bruce’s journal:  February 9, 1993 — “I hung on the cross yesterday.  More when I have time, but simply, I never began to understand what Jesus did for me until yesterday.  And I still gained only a glimpse of the reality, the absolute subjection/submission to horror . . . for me.  Every believer should wear a crown of thorns and hang on a cross for ten seconds—they would never be the same.  And I can’t help but feel that every non-believer would accept Christ on the spot if he did the same.  I have never felt so alone, so naked, so ugly, so emotionally bare—and I was just play-acting, dipping my toe into the experience of the cross.  What He did for us!   He chose it! . . .   Lives will never be the same.  Mine will never be the same.  Hanging on the cross.  It was awful beyond description—

. . . and I was faking it.”

He was a Guy you could count on—a solid Guy—a Guy you could trust.  A humble, gentle Guy who would stop everything He was doing to care for you, no matter how dirty or messed up you happened to be.  A heroic Guy who would stand up for you no matter how many stood against you.  A giving, selfless Guy who would risk everything for you no matter the personal cost.  An honest Guy who told it like it was and got killed for it.  Simply put, the greatest Guy you’d ever want to meet—this Guy named Jesus.

One huge discovery I made was how blindingly different a Man He was from us.  But we could examine any day or encounter of Jesus’ life and see the same things over and over:  acts of giving, humility, care, integrity, sacrifice.  Acts of superhuman selflessness, the tiniest of which, aside from causing the blind to see and the lame to walk, screamed to all who looked on, “This is God!”   For there’s no way such wholeness of character, such totality of love, could possibly be that of a mere man.

All deity aside, this Jesus was a Man such as never walked the planet before or since, a Man of such mountainous character, such mind-blowing integrity, such breathtaking heroism, there are just no words to do Him justice.  So, in my unpoetic manner, all I can come up with to say is, “What a Guy!”

I get asked a lot, “What’s the most significant thing you learned through the whole adventure?”  It may sound crazy, but it’s something I’d been hearing all my life.  Funny thing is, I don’t know that I ever truly heard it:   “He loves you.  He loves you so much.”  It doesn’t matter who you are, or how many mistakes you’ve made, or what anyone thinks of you, or what you may think of yourself.  It doesn’t matter if you doubt it, laugh at it, or if you love it.  There’s nothing you can do to change it or make it go away, and it’s as real as the ink on this page:

He loves you!

Text and photos taken from In the Footsteps of Jesus, by Bruce Marchiano

http://brucemarchiano.com