Category Archives: Max Lucado

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – There is a Time to Mourn

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Max Lucado

Solomon said, “There is a time to mourn!” Give yourself some. Face your grief with tears, time, and one more—face your grief with truth. God has the last word on death. And if you listen, He will tell you the truth about your loved ones. They’ve been dismissed from the hospital called Earth. You and I still roam the halls, smell the medicines. They meanwhile, inhale springtime.

You miss them like crazy, but can you deny the truth? They have no pain, doubt, or struggle. They really are happier in heaven. Reunion is a splinter of an eternal moment away. I Thessalonians 4:13 says that there is no need for you “to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.”

God understands. He knows the sorrow of a grave. He buried His Son.  But He also knows the joy of resurrection. And by His power, you will too.

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Giant of Grief

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Max Lucado

After the wife of C.S. Lewis died he wrote:  “Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.”

Just when you think the beast of grief is gone, you pass a restaurant where the two of you used to eat, or you hear a song she loved. And the giant of grief keeps stirring up. You see couples and long for your mate. You see parents with kids and yearn for your child. The giant stirs up insomnia, loss of appetite, even thoughts of suicide.

Grief is not a mental illness, but it sure feels like one sometimes. Jesus understands. Next to the tomb of his dear friend, “Jesus wept.” And in His tears we find permission to shed our own. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:3, “Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.”

Go ahead.  Face your grief.  Permit yourself tears. God understands, and He will get your through this.

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Just One More

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Max Lucado

Your spouse calls to apologize, “Sorry, I’ll be out late one more night this week!”

The boss says, “I have one more thing for you to do before you leave!”

Your friend insists, “I need just one more favor!”

The problem? You’ve handled, tolerated, done, forgiven, and taken until you don’t have one more “one more” in you.

Be encouraged. I Samuel 30:6 describes six-hundred men stoking their anger against David. It says, “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” How essential that we learn to do the same. Support systems don’t always support. Friends aren’t always friendly. Pastors can wander off base and churches get out of touch. When no one can help, we have to do what David does.  We have to strengthen ourselves in the Lord.

Are you weary?  Catch your breath.  It’s okay to rest.  Jesus fights when you cannot!  You turn to Him and find strength in your Lord.

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Stay in the Race

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Max Lucado

Don’t give up! In 1952 Florence Chadwick attempted to swim the ocean waters between Catalina Island and the California shore—through foggy weather and choppy seas.  After 15 hours her muscles began to cramp and her resolve weakened. She begged to be taken out of the water, but her mother riding in a boat alongside, urged her not to give up. She kept trying but grew exhausted.  Aids lifted her out of the water. As they paddled a few more minutes, the mist broke. She discovered shore was less than a half mile away. She said, “All I could see was the fog.  I think if I could’ve seen the shore, I would’ve made it!”

Friend, don’ t give up! The finish may be only strokes away. God may at this moment be lifting His hand to signal Gabriel to grab the trumpet. The shore may be closer than you think. Stay at it.  Stay in the race.  And don’t give up!

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Don’t Give Up

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Max Lucado

The next time you lack the will to go on, seek healthy counsel! You won’t want to.  Slumping people love slumping people. We love those who commiserate and avoid those who correct. Yet correction and direction are what we need when we’re tired.

I discovered the importance of healthy counsel in a half-Ironman triathlon. After the 1.2 mile swim and the 56-mile bike ride, I didn’t have much energy left for the 13.1 mile run.  Neither did the fellow jogging next to me.  He said, “This stinks. This is the dumbest decision I’ve ever made.”

I said, “Good-bye!” I knew if I listened too long, I’d start agreeing with him. I caught up with a sixty-six-year-old grandmother who said, “You’ll finish this—stay in there!”

Which of the two describes the counsel you seek? Proverbs 15:22 says: “Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed!”

Don’t give up. And get some good advice!

From Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Such a Friend

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Max Lucado

The next time you lack the will to go on, seek healthy counsel! You won’t want to.  Slumping people love slumping people. We love those who commiserate and avoid those who correct. Yet correction and direction are what we need when we’re tired.

I discovered the importance of healthy counsel in a half-Ironman triathlon. After the 1.2 mile swim and the 56-mile bike ride, I didn’t have much energy left for the 13.1 mile run.  Neither did the fellow jogging next to me.  He said, “This stinks. This is the dumbest decision I’ve ever made.”

I said, “Good-bye!” I knew if I listened too long, I’d start agreeing with him. I caught up with a sixty-six-year-old grandmother who said, “You’ll finish this—stay in there!”

Which of the two describes the counsel you seek? Proverbs 15:22 says: “Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed!”

Don’t give up. And get some good advice!

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Managing Tough Times

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Max Lucado

How we handle our tough times stays with us for a long time! When you’re tired of trying, tired of forgiving, tired of hard-headed people, how do you manage your dark days? With a bottle of pills?  An hour at the bar, a day at the spa? Many opt for such treatments.  So many, in fact, we assume they reenergize the sad life. But do they?  They numb the pain, postpone the pain, but do they remove it?

Is there a solution? There is.  Be quick to pray.  Stop talking to yourself. Talk to Christ, who says, “Are you tired? Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. (Matthew 11:28).”

God, who is never downcast, never tires of your down days.“Come to Me,” Jesus says.  “I’ll give you real rest!”

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Hope We Cannot Resist

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Max Lucado

In a concentration camp, a guard announced a shovel was missing. Screaming at the men, he kept insisting someone had stolen it.  He shouldered his rifle, ready to kill one prisoner at a time until a confession was made. As the story continues, a Scottish soldier broke ranks, stood stiffly at attention, and said, “I did it.”  The guard killed the man. As they returned to camp, the shovels were counted. The guard had made a mistake.  No shovel was missing after all.

Who does that?  What kind of person would take the blame for something he didn’t do? When you find the adjective, attach it to Jesus. Isaiah 53:6 says, “God has piled all our  sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on Him.”

Christ lived the life we could not live and took the punishment we could not take, to offer the hope we cannot resist!

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Forgiving is Not Excusing

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Max Lucado

Forgiveness is not excusing! Nor is it pretending. To forgive is to move on, not to think about the offense anymore. You don’t excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them. You just route thoughts about them through heaven. Revenge is God’s job.

By the way, how can we grace-recipients do anything less? Dare we ask God for grace when we refuse to give it? It’s a huge issue in the Bible. Jesus was tough on sinners who refused to forgive other sinners. In the final sum, we give grace because we’ve been given grace.

In the story Jesus tells in Matthew 18:32, the master calls the servant in.  “You wicked servant, he said, “I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? It’s a good question.  We’ve been given grace….shouldn’t we freely give it?

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s Projects

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Max Lucado

See your enemies, not as failures, but as God’s projects!  God occupies the only seat on the supreme court of heaven. He wears the robe and refuses to share the gavel.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:19:  “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do.  ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’”

Vigilantes displace and replace God.  They say, “I’m not sure you can handle this one, Lord.  You may punish too little or too slowly.  I’ll take this matter into my hands, thank you.” No one had a clearer sense of right and wrong that the perfect Son of God.

Only God assesses accurate judgments. Vengeance is His job. Give grace, but if need be, keep your distance. You can forgive the abusive husband without living with him. Forgiveness is not foolishness. Forgiveness is simply choosing to see your offender with different eyes.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s Sanctuary

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Max Lucado

The purpose of the church is to provide bread and swords!  To the spiritually hungry, the church offers bread–spiritual nourishment.  To the fugitive, the church offers swords–weapons of truth:

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Food and equipment.  The church exists to provide both.  Does it always succeed? No, not always. People-helping is never a tidy trade, because people who need help don’t lead tidy lives. Jesus calls the church to lean in the direction of compassion.

At the end of the day, the question is not how many laws were broken but rather, how many desperate were nourished and equipped?  God’s sanctuary—where He gives food to the hungry and tools to the soldiers.  May your church provide both for you.  And may you be a part of a church that does the same for others.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Look at What You Have

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Max Lucado

Linger too long in the stench of your hurt, and you’ll smell like the toxin you despise.  I spent too much of a summer sludging through sludge.  Oil field work is dirty at best.  But the dirtiest job of all?  Shoveling silt out of empty oil tanks. The foreman saved such jobs for the summer help.  Thanks boss!  My mom burned my work clothes.  The stink stuck!

Your hurts can do the same.  The better option?  Look at what you have.  Your hurts and pain took much, but Christ gave you more! Catalog His kindnesses.  Everything from sunsets to salvation—look at what you have.

Let Jesus be the friend you need.  Talk to Him.  Spare no detail.  Disclose your fear and describe your dread. Will your hurt disappear? Who knows?  And in a sense, does it matter? You have a friend for life. What could be better than that?

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Such a Friend

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Max Lucado

In Proverbs 18:24 we read, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” David found such a friend in the son of Saul.

Oh to have a friend like Jonathan. A soul mate who protects you, who seeks nothing but your interests, wants nothing but your happiness. An ally who lets you be you. No need to weigh thoughts or measure words. God gave David such a friend.

And God gave you one as well. David found a companion in a prince of Israel; you can find a friend in the King of Israel, Jesus Christ. He has made a covenant with you. Among His final words were these, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus also said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from Me!”

Do you long for one true friend? You have One!

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Looks at the Heart

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Max Lucado

First Samuel 16:7 says:  “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Those words were written for misfits and outcasts.  God uses them all.  Moses ran from justice, but God used him.  Jonah ran from God, but God used him.  Rahab ran a brothel. Lot ran with the wrong crowd, but God used them all.

And David?  God saw a teenage boy serving him in the backwoods of Bethlehem.  Human eyes saw a gangly teenager, smelling like sheep. Yet, “the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one.”  God saw what no one else saw:  a God-seeking heart.

Others measure your waist size or wallet.  Not God.  He examines hearts.  When He finds one set on Him, he calls it and claims it.Your Father knows your heart, and because He does, He has a place reserved—just for you!

from Facing Your Giants

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Giant-Slayer

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Max Lucado

God called David a “man after His own heart!”  One might read his story and wonder what God saw in him.  He fell as often as he stood. He stared down Goliath, yet ogled at Bathsheba.  He could lead armies but couldn’t manage a family.  Raging David.  Weeping David.  Bloodthirsty.  God-hungry.  Eight wives.  One God.  A man after God’s own heart?

That God saw him as such gives hope to us all.  David’s life has little to offer the unstained saint.  Straight-A souls find David’s story disappointing.  But we need David’s story…most of us do.  Giants lurk in our neighborhoods.  Giants of rejection, failure, and revenge.  We must face them.  Yet we need not face them alone.

Focus on God.  The times David did, giants fell. The days he did not, David fell.  Lift your eyes, giant-slayer!  The God who made a miracle out of David stands ready to make one out of you!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – What Do You See?

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Max Lucado

On the wall of a concentration camp, are carved these words:

I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine.

I believe in love, even when it isn’t shown.

I believe in God, even when He doesn’t speak.

I try to envision a skeletal hand gripping broken glass or stone to cut into that wall; eyes squinting through the darkness as he carved each letter. Whose hand cut such a conviction? Whose eyes saw good in such horror? There’s only one answer: eyes that chose to see the unseen.

 

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.”

When tragedy strikes, we too, are left to choose what we see: the hurt or the Healer. The choice is ours!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Trust Him

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Max Lucado

In Mark 5:23, Jairus pleads with Jesus, “My daughter is dying. Please come, heal her so she will live.” He doesn’t barter with Jesus. He doesn’t negotiate. He just pleads. He asks Jesus for His help. And Jesus, who loves the honest heart, goes to give it. But before they get very far, they’re interrupted by emissaries who tell them, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no need to bother the Teacher anymore.” Get ready. Hang on to your hat. Here’s where Jesus takes control. The Bible says: “But Jesus paid no attention to what they said.” I love that line! He ignored what the people said. Why don’t you do that? When falsehood, accusations, or negativism come, just ignore it. Close your ears. Walk away. Ignore the ones who say it’s too late to start over. Disregard those who say you’ll never amount to anything. Jesus said to Jairus what He says to you: “Don’t be afraid—just believe!” “Trust Me,” Jesus is pleading. “Just trust Me.”

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Let the Father Guide You

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Max Lucado

Are you watching a world out of control and don’t know what to do?  Stand back and let the Father guide you!

I remember a time when I was about nine years old.  My father and I were battling a storm in a fishing boat, honestly wondering if we’d make it back to shore. The boat was small, the waves were high, the sky rumbled, the lightening zigzagged. . . As dad tried for shore, wave after wave picked us up and slapped us down. I looked for the coast, for the sun, even for other boats. I saw only waves—everything was frightening. There was only one reassuring sight, the face of my father. Right then I made a decision. I quit looking at the storm and looked only at my father.

God wants us to do the same. What good does it do to focus on the storm anyway?  Focus your eyes on Him.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Children of God

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Max Lucado

What matters to you—matters to God! You probably think that’s true when it comes to the big stuff; the major-league difficulties like disease, death, sin, and disaster—you know that God cares. But what about the smaller things? What about grouchy bosses or flat tires or lost dogs? What about late flights, toothaches, or a crashed computer? Do those matter to God?

God’s got wars to worry about and famines to fix. Who am I, we say, to tell Him about my troubles?  I’m glad you asked.  The answer is found in I John 3:1. “The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God.  And we really are His children.” I love that last phrase.  “We really are His children.”

John added that phrase for you. We really are His children! If something is important to you, it’s important to God!