Show a man his failures without Jesus, and the result will be found in the roadside gutter. Give a man religion without reminding him of his filth, and the result will be arrogance in a three-piece suit. But get the two in the same heart—get sin to meet Savior and Savior to meet sin—and the result just might be another Pharisee turned preacher who sets the world on fire.
Saul to Paul. The apostle Paul never took a course in missions. He never read a book on church growth. He was just inspired by the Holy Spirit and punch-drunk on the love that makes the impossible possible: salvation. He called on Jesus’ name—and His name only. He got a new name and, even more, a new life. May the same happen again.
From The Applause of Heaven
Tag Archives: Max Lucado
Max Lucado – God Has Done It
The rich young ruler. He’s rich, powerful. Just ask him. He knows where he’s going. But today he has a question. Calling on this carpenter’s son for help must be awkward. “Teacher,” he asks, “what good thing must I do to get eternal life” (Matthew 19:16)? How much do I need to invest to be certain of my return?
Jesus’ answer is intended to make the young man wince. “Obey the commandments.”
“Hey,” he grins, I’ve obeyed all of these.”
Jesus gets to the point. “If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions, give to the poor and you’ll have treasures in heaven” (Matthew 19:21). The statement leaves the young man distraught. It wasn’t the money that hindered the rich man—it was the self-sufficiency. God does for his children what they can’t do for themselves. This was the message of Paul: “For what the law was powerless to do—God did” (Romans 8:3).
From The Applause of Heaven
Max Lucado – The Beginning of Joy
In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest.” You’ve been there. You’re turned your back on the noise and sought his voice. You’ve stepped away from the masses and followed the Master as he led you up the winding path to the summit. His summit. Clean air. Clear view. Crisp breeze. The roar of the marketplace is down there, and the perspective of the peak is up here. Gently he invited you to sit on the rock and look out with him at the ancient peaks that will never erode.
Just remember, he says, you’ll go nowhere tomorrow that I haven’t already been. Truth will still triumph. Death will still die. The victory is still yours. And delight is one decision away—seize it! Joy begins by breathing deep up there before you go crazy down here!
From The Applause of Heaven
Max Lucado – Divine Wisdom
When I was ten, my mother enrolled me in piano lessons. Spending afternoons tethered to a piano bench was a torture just one level away from swallowing broken glass. Some of the music I enjoyed. I hammered the staccatos. But I could never understand the rest. The zigzagged command to do nothing. Nothing! What sense does that make? Why sit and pause when you can pound? “Because,” my teacher patiently explained, “music is always sweeter after a rest.”
Divine wisdom. In fact, it reminds me of the convictions of another Teacher. Before He went to the masses, Christ went to the mountain. Before the disciples encountered the crowds, they encountered the Christ. And before they faced the people, they were reminded of the sacred! Is it time for you to rest?
From The Applause of Heaven
Max Lucado – A Radical Reconstrution
God promises a special blessing. A sacred delight. It’s not a gimmick to give goose bumps or a mental attitude that has to be pumped up. No, Matthew 5 describes God’s radical reconstruction of the heart. Observe the sequence in the Beatitudes. We recognize we are in need—we’re poor in spirit. Next, we repent of our self-sufficiency—we mourn. We quit calling the shots—we’re meek. We are so grateful for his presence that we yearn for more—we hunger and thirst. We forgive others—we’re merciful. We change our outlook—we’re pure in heart. We love others—we’re peacemakers. We endure injustice—we’re persecuted.
It’s no casual shift of attitude. It is a demolition of the old and a creation of the new. The more radical the change, the greater the joy. And it is worth every effort, for this is the joy of God! A special blessing….a sacred delight.
From The Applause of Heaven
Max Lucado – Everything Needed for Joy
Robert had cerebral palsy. The disease kept him from riding a bike, or going for a walk. But it didn’t keep him from graduating from high school or attending university. Having cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at a Junior College or from venturing overseas on five missions trips. And Robert’s disease didn’t prevent him from becoming a missionary in Portugal.
He moved to Lisbon, alone. He rented a room, found a restaurant owner who fed him after the rush hour and a tutor who instructed him in the language. And daily in the park, he passed out booklets about Christ. Within six years he led seventy people to the Lord. I heard Robert speak. He could’ve asked for sympathy or pity. He did just the opposite. A Bible in his lap, he held his bent hand up in the air and boasted, “I have everything I need for joy.” So do we.
From The Applause of Heaven47
Max Lucado – How’s Your Marriage
How’s your marriage? On your wedding day, God loaned you an intricately crafted, precisely formed masterpiece. He entrusted you with a one-of-a-kind creation. Value her. Honor him. Some men collect wives as trophies; a means for pleasure, instead of a part of God’s plan. Don’t make this mistake. Be fiercely loyal to one spouse. Fiercely loyal. Don’t even look twice at someone else. No flirting. No teasing. No loitering at her desk or lingering in his office. Who cares if you come across as rude or a prude? You’ve made a promise. Keep it.
Your spouse is not your trophy but your treasure. Make your wife the object of your highest devotion. Make your husband the recipient of your deepest passion. Love the one who wears your ring. Make her, make him your giant-size privilege, your towering priority!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – A Cure for the High and Mighty
God doesn’t dislike arrogance…he hates it. Could he state it any clearer than Proverbs 8:13: “I hate pride and arrogance.” And then a few chapters later it says God can’t stomach arrogance or pretense. Believe me, he’ll put those upstarts in their place. You don’t want God to do that. It’s far wiser to descend the mountain than fall from it!
Pursue humility. Humility doesn’t mean you think less of yourself but that you think of yourself less. Paul described it in Romans 12:3, “Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you.” God has a cure for the high and mighty: come down from the mountain before he employs it. You’ll be amazed what you hear and who you see. And you’ll breathe a whole lot easier!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – Humility
I was on a flight where the attendant couldn’t do anything right. Order soda and you would get juice. Ask for a pillow, she’d bring a blanket. I had just been a guest speaker at an event where people told me how lucky they were that I’d come. I don’t know what was loonier: the fact they said it or that I believed it. I was feeling cocky, and I grumbled. Do you see what I was doing? Don’t look at me like that. Haven’t you felt a bit superior to someone? The clerk at the grocery store. The waiter at the restaurant?
But her question changed all of that. “Mr. Lucado? Aren’t you the one who writes Christian books?” She filled the next few minutes with her pain. When she asked if I would pray for her, I did. But both God and I knew she was not the only one needing prayer!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – A Glimpse of God’s Love
People can exhaust you. And there are times when all we can do is not enough. When a spouse leaves, we cannot force him or her to stay. When a spouse abuses, we shouldn’t stay. I don’t for a minute minimize the challenges you face. You are tired. Angry. Disappointed. This isn’t the marriage you expected or the life you wanted.
But looming in your past is a promise you made. May I urge you to do all you can to keep it? To give it one more try? Why should you? So you can understand the depth of God’s love. When you love the unloving, you get a glimpse of what God does for you. When you keep the porch light on for the prodigal child, when you love the weak and the sick, you do what God does every single moment!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – Your Nevertheless
Two types of thoughts continually vie for your attention. One says, God will help you. The other lies, God has left you. Here is the great news: you select the voice you hear! Why give ear to pea-brains when you can, with the same ear, listen to the voice of God?
I had a friend who battled the stronghold of alcohol. He tried a fresh tactic. He gave me and a few others permission to slug him if we ever saw him drinking. He was determined to hear the right voices. He succeeded; and I never slugged him.
Try something drastic. Turn a deaf ear to the old voices. Open a wide eye to the new choices. God loves to give them. He gave one to Peter. Remember “Speak-now-and-think-later Pete?” God turned impetuous Peter into the apostle Peter. And you? He’ll do something similar. He will help you.
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – Open Bible, Open Heart, Open Ears
Do you have a Bible? Read it! When anxiety termites away at your peace, read Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Or perhaps laziness is knocking on your door. Read Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.”
Don’t make a decision, large or small, without sitting before God with an open Bible, an open heart, and open ears. Philippians 2:13 says, “God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases Him.”
You have all you need to face the giant-size questions of your life. Most of all you have a God who loves you too much to let you wander. You have a heart for God? Heed it! Have a Bible? Read it.
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – Handling the Tough Times
How do you handle your tough times? When you are tired of trying, tired of forgiving, tired of hard weeks or hard-headed people—how do you manage your dark days? With a bottle of pills? Alcohol? 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 may numb the pain, but do they remove it? We like sheep follow each other over the edge, falling headlong into bars, binges and beds. Is there a solution? Indeed there is.
Be quick to pray. Talk to Christ who invites. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life” (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus says, “I will show you how to take a real rest.” God who is never downcast, never tires of your down days! Just go to him!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – Forgiveness is Not Excusing
It’s one thing to give grace to friends, but to give grace to those who give us grief? Most of us find it hard to forgive. Leave your enemies in God’s hands. You are not endorsing their misbehavior when you do. You can hate what someone did without letting hatred consume you. Forgiveness is not excusing. Give grace, but if need be, keep your distance. You can forgive the abusive husband without living with him. Be quick to give mercy to the immoral pastor, but be slow to give him a pulpit.
Society can dispense grace and prison terms at the same time. 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 your thoughts about them through heaven. In Romans 12:19 God says, “I will take care of it!” Let Him!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – Give Grace
Forgiveness is not foolishness. Forgiveness, at its core, is choosing to see your offender with different eyes. By the way, how can we grace-recipients do anything less? Dare we ask God for grace when we refuse to give it? This is a huge issue in Scripture! Jesus was tough on sinners who refused to forgive other sinners. Remember his story in Matthew 18, about the servant freshly forgiven a debt of millions who refused to forgive a debt equal to a few dollars? He stirred the wrath of God. “You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt. Shouldn’t you have mercy just as I had mercy on you?” (Matthew 18:32).
In the final sum, we give grace because we’ve been given grace. And we’ve been given grace so we can freely give it. See your enemies as God’s child and revenge as God’s job.
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – God Will Judge
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. I’m not sure you can handle this one, Lord. You may punish too little or too slowly. I’ll take this into my hands, thank you. Is this what you want to say? Jesus didn’t. No one had a clearer sense of right and wrong than the perfect Son of God. In 1 Peter 2:23 we’re reminded, “When He suffered, He didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly.” Only God assesses accurate judgments. Perfect justice. Vengeance is His job. Leave your enemies in God’s hands!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – God’s Project
Some years ago a Rottweiler attacked our golden retriever puppy at a kennel. The animal climbed out of its run and into Molly’s and nearly killed her. I wrote a letter to the dog’s owner, urging him to put the dog to sleep. But when I showed the letter to the kennel owner, she begged me to reconsider. “What the dog did was horrible, but I’m still training him. I’m not finished with him yet.”
God would say the same about the Rottweiler who attacked you. “What he did was unacceptable, inexcusable, but I’m not finished yet.” Your enemies still figure into God’s plan. Their pulse is proof. God hasn’t given up on them. They may be out of His will, but not out of His reach. You honor God when you see them, not as His failures, but as His projects!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – Make God Your Refuge
Refuge is a favorite word of David’s. You will count as many as forty-plus appearances in some Bible versions. But never did David use the word more poignantly than in Psalm 57. The introduction to the passage explains its background: “A song of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.” Lost in shadows and thought, he has nowhere to turn. Go home, he endangers his family; to the tabernacle, he imperils the priests. Saul will kill him. Here he sits. All alone. But then he remembers he’s not. And from the recesses of the cave a sweet voice floats:
“Be merciful to me, O God!
For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I make my refuge.” (Psalm 57:1)
Make God your refuge. Let Him be the foundation on which you stand!
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – A Better Option
I spent too much of a high school summer working in the oil field. We donned gas masks, waded into ankle deep, contaminated mire. My mom burned my work clothes. The stink stunk! Yours can do the same. Linger too long in the stench of your hurt, and you’ll smell like the toxin you despise. The better option? Join with David as he announces, “The Lord lives. Blessed be my Rock. It is God who avenges me. He delivers me from my enemies. Therefore I will give thanks to You, O God!” (Psalm 18:46-49).
Wander daily through the gallery of God’s goodness. Catalog His kindnesses. Look at what you have. Let Jesus be the friend you need. Talk to Him. Spare no details. Disclose your fear and describe your dread. You just found a friend for life in Jesus Christ. What could be better than that?
From Facing Your Giants
Max Lucado – Words for Misfits
1 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; Sarah ran out of hope; Lot ran with the wrong crowd; but God used them all. And David? Human eyes saw a gangly teenager, smelling like sheep. Yet the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is the one!” (1 Samuel 16:12).
God saw what no one else saw— a God-seeking heart. David took after God’s heart, because he stayed after God’s heart. In the end, that is all God wants or needs. 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.
From Facing Your Giants
DAILY DEVOTIONS, NEWS AND INFORMATION 