REACHER’S ALAN RITCHSON SAYS ‘SELF-SACRIFICIAL LOVE’ IS OUR ‘HIGH CALLING’

In an Easter Sunday message, REACHER star Alan Ritchson compared our need for God to an egg hunt.

“I think in something as simple as children searching for Easter eggs we get a glimpse of that relationship between humankind and God in a way that makes it all make sense for us,” the actor said.

When it came time to open the Easter eggs, Calem realized he was giving away money rather than candy.

Ritchson said that that type of “self-sacrificial love” exemplifies the “high calling” Christians have on their lives as they follow Christ.

“He was so proud of the fact that he gave the eggs away,” Ritchson said of his son. “We were proud of him. My wife and I are talking about ways that we can reward him for his self-sacrificial love.”

Per Church Leaders, the actor asked, “Imagine those kids growing up to be 40 or 50, and instead of eggs being filled with treasures, some are ‘full of contempt, revenge, apathy.’”

“What do we do? Do we continue to give those away?” Ritchson asked viewers in the video. “What about the ones that are full of some kind of value…that helps us feel like we can escape or find comfort when we’ve got a basket full of bad eggs? We hold on to those tighter.”

“This starts to look a lot more like real life,” he added. “And we start to feel disenfranchised or cynical when it feels like the game is poisoned or broken beyond repair. And we start to crave a savior of some kind.”

He explained how, in the Old Testament, God continued to save and had a salvation plan in place for the Israelites, even though they continued to disobey him.

“We are not capable of saving ourselves because we crave evil,” Ritchson continued. “We are wicked, broken people, and we need a savior.”

But, “in the New Testament, we get one who claims to be that thing in Jesus. What does Jesus come to do? He comes preaching radical generosity and not just to those who you like but to those who you detest,” he said.

“So, at the foot of the cross begins this upside-down Kingdom with upside-down values, and this is what we’re called to on this Easter Day,” Ritchson continued. “The resurrection tells us—it points to some reality that there’s this permanence and victory in this Kingdom. That it’s already been had. That it will continue forever, and that we will continue to be called to be shaped to look more like that Kingdom for those who are willing to.”

The actor frequently speaks about his faith and the importance of faith-based entertainment.

“People are hearing the name of Christ in movie theaters,” said Ritchson. “And if that’s where the pulpit is for people who wouldn’t normally step foot in a church, then that’s still a great way to have that conversation. It matters that these films get supported,” he said.  

Movieguide® recently reported on Ritchson’s own need for Jesus:

REACHER star Alan Ritchson opened up about how God saved him from his mental health struggles.

In an interview with The Christian Post, he said, “I’m bipolar. I’m temperamental, I’m stubborn, I’m creatively a perfectionist, and I hold people to a ridiculous, ridiculous standard, and myself to an even higher one. And I’m hard to live with.”

In addition to faith, his awareness of his struggles helped the actor overcome them.

“The problem is, it’s less that I doubt God is real or that God cares. It’s more that I doubt that I’m worthy of the love that God gives or that I’m worthy of His attention,” Ritchson confessed. “I thought my career was over a few years ago. I had a run-in with suicide and tried to take my own life. Thank God I was not successful.”

…“My family was there for me, some doctors were there for me, and I got help and pulled through,” Ritchson remembered. “But I had to find what meaning and purpose look like after that, and it looked like serving others and having a real relationship with God.”