Kathie Lee Gifford Encourages Fans To Imitate Jesus: ‘He Transformed Them By Love’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Kathie Lee Gifford recently shared her thoughts on faith and how we can all bring out the best in each other by imitating Jesus.
“He had conversations with people who didn’t look anything like him or were members of the Jewish tribe then, but he always went to the core of who they were as a child of God,” Gifford explained. “Jesus never left anybody the same, and we shouldn’t.
“When you meet someone, love them, and then keep loving them until you no longer recognize the person that you met, because that’s what Jesus did,” she continued. “He transformed them by love.”
Gifford is currently promoting a book and Fox special called THE JESUS I KNOW, both of which will feature her conversations with other public figures about their Christian faith.
The actress and author said her literary agent gave her the idea for the book, saying she should interview people who “don’t look like [her] and don’t sound like [her], but they have fascinating things to say about the person of Jesus.”
The Movieguide® Visionary Award Winner will interview people like singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth, country star Jimmy Wayne, and Justin Bieber’s mother Pattie Mallette, to name a few.
Movieguide® has previously reported on Gifford’s commitment to sharing her faith:
Emmy award-winning television presenter Kathie Lee Gifford says that she believes God called her to make movies that reach audiences with Christ’s love and redemption.
“I felt the Lord’s calling on my life to write a movie for people who don’t know yet that God loves them,” Gifford told The Christian Post. “I didn’t know why I thought that was a strange thing for Him to say to my heart. But I have many, many, many friends, more nonbeliever friends than I have Christian friends actually in my life, people that I share my faith with and they respect it, but they’re not there yet.”
The television entertainer–known for her roles on the TODAY show, LIVE! WITH REGIS AND KATHIE LEE, and some movies–hopes that her entertainment career would show people the love of God.
Movieguide® honored Gifford with the Visionary Award at the 28th Annual Movieguide® Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry earlier this year.
In her new movie, THEN CAME YOU, Gifford says the plot demonstrates how we can love like Jesus, despite some of the flaws in the church.
“I think the Church has failed nonbelievers in many, many ways through the years and one of the biggest ones is that we haven’t loved them into the Kingdom,” Gifford said.
“We have created an atmosphere of self-righteousness at times and an attitude of condemnation towards them. I don’t think that’s what Jesus ever planned; we’re supposed to love people like Annabel and Howard (characters in the film), and just be a witness to them.”
In THEN CAME YOU, Gifford plays a widow, mirroring her own life. Gifford’s husband, Frank, died in 2015.
“If you live long enough you’re going to experience that kind of loss in life and that kind of grief. For me, ‘losing’ my husband. There’s a line in [Gifford’s song] ‘He Saw Jesus’ that says, ‘No, I didn’t lose him/I know right where he is/He was never really mine/He was always His,’” Gifford said.
“So as believers, that’s why I could hold my dead husband in my arms and rejoice. I knew where he was. It was not a tragedy, it was a triumph of eternal life,” she continued.
THE JESUS I KNOW airs Sundays at 10 pm on the Fox News Channel.
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