Week Forty-One - Precious Sharing

Beside the Well

            I’ve been learning a lot about sharing on Facebook and social media as I work on my True Story Keepsake project.  Seems sharing is a great way to spread the news about an event or a good quote to encourage friends.  Where we used to write a letter or talk when we shared, we now simply type in words or click a button to circulate a picture. 

            That might be handy, but I much prefer a personal touch.  I shared a book through my Facebook page a few weeks ago that was a blessing to read.  It is Gospel Centered Family, by Tim Chester and Ed Moll.  It was a free EBook to download from The Good Book Company UK.  Absolutely devoured it.  It was full of solid instruction.  Hopefully, many saw it and read or ordered the book.

            I also put up a link to a beautiful blog for younger Christian women 18+, Tirzah.  (tirzahmag.com) I read several of their entries and appreciated the down to earth advice and the lovely manner of the blog/magazine.

            Now, that’s all great, but one of the nicest shares I have had this month was a little book shared with me by a dear friend, a small paperback entitled Love Story, by Glen Scrivener about the Easter story and fairytales. 

            “What?” you ask. 

            Yes, Easter and fairytales.

            The author moves through the Easter story to show the hero, the problem, and the happily ever after.  I think it would be a great book to give out around Easter time as a witnessing tool, but also, it is a good book to read.  Let me share with you a few things that drew my attention.

            Since I have heard lately much about how people perceive God, this paragraph jumped out at me.  “I don’t know how you see God.  If people believe in God today, they tend to think of him as an impersonal Force.  Or he’s a Sergeant Major in the sky who barks out orders.  Or he’s a Heavenly Slave Driver setting us to work.  Or he’s a Moral Policeman, investigating our performance.  Or he’s a Cosmic Headmaster saying, ‘Must try harder.’  But if we’ve inherited any of those ideas about God, it hasn’t been from the Bible.” (p. 14)

            Since God is love and the initiator of it, it is paramount that we get the right perspective for love to blossom.

            The author then went on to examine Jesus saying, “What is Jesus like?  He is a million miles from the God who rearranges stars to make us bow.  He is the God who gets down on his knees to deal with our mess.”  (p. 26) The chapter is entitled, Love Stoops.  God, who created the universe and who loves us completely, stoops to show us the extent of His love.

            And one more tidbit: Love Suffers.  Jesus prayed at Gethsemane for the cup to pass from him if at all possible.  The cup is illustrative of the depth of sin and poison for which we are accountable.  It is not Jesus’ cup; it is ours.  Yet, He is the one lining up to drink it for us.

            “He does not want to drink this cup.  What a different cup this is from the cup of wine which, earlier in the night, Jesus had offered to his disciples.  That cup was full of forgiveness; this cup is full of judgment.  That cup signals life; this cup brings death.  That cup Jesus offers to us; this cup he drinks himself…The truth is that it is not possible for the cup to be taken away unless Jesus drinks it.” (p. 37)

            Thanks, Kate, for sharing such a beautiful book—a true story keepsake.