Tag Archives: Max Lucado

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – We Can Fear Less

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In Luke 24:38, Jesus asks, “Why are you frightened? Why are your hearts filled with doubt?” Jesus doesn’t want you to live in a state of fear.

Nor do you. You’ve never made statements like these: Thank God for my pessimism. I’ve been such a better person since I lost hope. Or, My doctor says if I don’t begin fretting, I’ll lose my health. We’ve learned the high cost of fear. If we medicate fear with angry outbursts, drinking binges, sullen withdrawals, or viselike control, we exclude God from the solution and exacerbate the problem.

Hysteria isn’t from God. Scripture says, “God has not given us the spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7). Fear may fill our world, but it doesn’t have to fill our hearts. It will always knock on the door. Just don’t invite it in.

The promise of Christ is simple: we can fear less tomorrow than we do today!

From Fearless

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Greed Has Many Faces

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Our obsession with stuff carries a hefty price tag. We spend 110 percent of our disposable income trying to manage debt. Who can keep up? No one can!

Jesus warns in Luke 12:15, “Be on your guard against every form of greed.” Greed comes in many forms. Greed for approval. Greed for applause. Greed for status. Greed has many faces but speaks one language: the language of more. Wise was the one who wrote, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”

The only way to feel full is to feel fulfilled. The only way to feel fulfilled is to understand that everything we have comes from God—and he gives us exactly what we need. All of it is on loan! And, someday we’ll have to give it all back, checking it at heaven’s door!

From Max on Life

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Max Lucado – All Things New

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People often say, “You can be anything you want to be! Be a butcher, a sales rep if you like. An ambassador if you really care. You can be anything you want to be—if you work hard enough.” But can you?  I wonder… if God didn’t pack within you the meat sense of a butcher; the people skills of a salesperson; or the world vision of an ambassador; can you be one? An unhappy, dissatisfied one perhaps. But a fulfilled one? No.

Can an acorn become a rose, or a whale fly like a bird? Absolutely not. You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be!

“I make all things new” He declares in Revelation 21:5. He didn’t hand you your granddad’s bag or your aunt’s life. He personally and deliberately packed you. Live out of the bag God gave you!

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Thought Prevention

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We are not a victim of our thoughts. We have a vote. We have a voice. We can exercise thought prevention!

“Don’t talk to me,” we say. “I’m in a bad mood.” As if a mood were a place to which we were assigned, rather than an emotion we permit. Or we say, “Don’t mess with her. She has a bad disposition.” Is a bad disposition something we have like a cold or the flu? Or do we have a choice? Paul says we do.  In 2 Corinthians 10:5 he says, “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.”

Capture every thought—you get the impression we’re the soldiers and the thoughts are our enemies. The minute they appear we go into action. Selfishness, step back!  Envy, get lost!  Find another home, Anger…you aren’t allowed on this turf!

Capturing thoughts is serious business! But, you can do it!

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Worry is Anti-Trust

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What would parents do without worry? It almost seems as if it’s in the job description. “Parents Wanted. Must be able to perform sleepless nights and meaningless pacing, wringing their hands and biting their nails.”

In Matthew 6:27, Jesus asked, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” Worry has no positive side effects. In fact, it subtracts moments from your life in heart stress and rising blood pressure.

Worry is anti-trust. If you’re worried, you don’t trust something: your kids, their friends, strangers, the church, even God. Can He take care of your children? Certainly. Jesus says, “I tell you, stop being anxious and worried about your life.” Pretty blunt. Stop it! Easier said than done, huh? Worry tests your trust, so hand your children to God and let him babysit your babies when you’re not around. He’s pretty good at it!

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – 100 Happy People

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You might not find the cure for cancer. You might not crack the code on global warming, world hunger, or tainted water. But you can do this. You can make people happy. This mission requires no Ph.D. or M.D. It demands no funding or travel. Age, ethnicity, and gender are not factors. You don’t have to change jobs or change cities or change neighborhoods.

But you can change the world.

You can do this: make a hundred people happy. Intentionally. Purposefully. Practically. You can increase the number of smiles on our planet. You can lower the anger level in your city. You, yes you, can cause a hundred people to sleep better, laugh more, hum instead of grumble, walk instead of stumble. You can lighten the load and brighten the day of one hundred human beings.

You can do that.

What if you did? Suppose you took the “Happy People Challenge.” Make one hundred people happy over a 40-day period. Here is how it works.

  • Set out to create “100 extra mile moments” between February 9 and March 20 in which you intentionally seek to make someone happy by doing something more than you would typically do.
  • Share your experience in your neighborhood group, class or family, and on social media at #100happypeople.
  • Keep a journal in which you list the names of people and ways you tried to brighten their day. Make note of the moment. What did you do? What did you learn? What was the setting?

At the end of forty days, would your world be different?

Would you be different? I think you would be.

Would you join me in the challenge? Happiness-givers are made, not born. The inertia of self-centeredness has a strong pull. That is why the Bible has so much to say about sharing joy. Heaven knows, we need all the help we can get. And God gives it! His word gives practical, applicable ways to make people happy. They are called the “one another” statements. There are 59 of them in the New Testament. It seems to me that they can be condensed into a list of nine statements. Each weekend, at the Oak Hills Church, I will be teaching on the One Another passages in the New Testament. You can join us, in person or online at http://www.oakhillschurch.com.

You can develop this wonderful skill of sharing joy. You can discover the adventure of making people happy!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – What is Worship?

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When you think of worship, what do you think of? Outdated songs poorly sung? Dramatic prayers egotistically offered? Irrelevant sermons carelessly delivered? What is worship? The essence of worship is simply this: giving God the honor he deserves; applauding the greatness of God! The definition in the book of Psalms 29:1-2 is this:

Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings;

Honor the Lord for his glory and strength.

Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

As Paul said in Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Worship–it’s a lifestyle. It’s an Action. It’s an attitude. It’s everything!

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s No-Tolerance Policy

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Hypocrisy turns people against God, so he has a no-tolerance policy. Let’s take hypocrisy as seriously as God does. For starters, expect no credit for good deeds. None! If no one notices, you aren’t disappointed. If someone does, you give the credit to God. If no one knew of the good you do, would you still do it? If not, you’re doing it to be seen by people.

Give financial gifts in secret. We like to be seen earning money. And we like to be seen giving it. Matthew 6:3 says, “So when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Don’t fake spirituality. Nothing nauseates more than a fake, “Praise the Lord,” or a shallow “Hallelujah” or an insincere “Glory be to God.”

Bottom line: Don’t make a theater production out of your faith!

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Appeal to the Heart

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Remember the church at Corinth? A problem on every pew? Territorially selfish. Morally shameless. Theologically reckless. How do you help a congregation like that? You can correct them. Paul did. You can instruct them, which Paul did. You can reason with them; Paul did. But at some point you stop talking to the head and start appealing to the heart. And Paul did that.

I Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love. . .bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

He saw only one solution—love! Don’t we need the same prescription today? Someday there will be a community where everyone behaves and no one complains. But it won’t be this side of heaven. So what do we do? We reason. We confront. We teach. But most of all, we love.

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Better to be Quiet

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When you sense the volume increasing and the heat rising, close your mouth. It’s better to be quiet and keep a brother than be loud and lose one. Romans 14:4 makes it clear… “they are God’s servants, not yours. They are responsible to him, not to you.  Let him tell them whether they are right or wrong.”

We judge others when we stop addressing the controversy and start attacking the character. Example? “You’d expect such an opinion out of a person who never studies the Bible!” If we disagree, let us disagree agreeably. Unity demands that we discuss the issues, not the person. Paul said, “Let us try to do what makes peace and helps one another” (Rom. 14:19).

1 Peter 4:8 says, “Love shall cover the multitude of sins.” So, if love covers a multitude of sins, can it not cover a multitude of opinions?

From Max on Life

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Be Careful

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Be careful with the phrase, “God led me. . .” Don’t banter it about. People have been known to justify stupidity based on a feeling! God will not lead you to lie, cheat, or hurt.

When Luke justified the writing of his gospel to Theophilus, he said, “Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus” (Lk. 1:3). Did you note his phrase, “it seemed good also to me”? These words reflect a person at the crossroads. Luke pondered his options and selected the path that “seemed good.”

God creates the ‘want to” within us. But He will never lead you to violate His Word. He will not contradict his teaching. But he will faithfully lead you through the words of his Scripture and the advice of his faithful.

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Unceasing Prayer

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Unceasing prayer may sound complicated, but it needn’t be that way. Do this. Think of prayer less as an activity for God and more as an awareness of God. Seek to live in uninterrupted awareness. As you stand in line to register your car, think, “Thank you, Lord, for being here.” In the grocery store as you shop, think, “Your presence, my King, I welcome.” As you wash the dishes, worship your Maker.

Brother Lawrence called himself the “lord of all pots and pans.” He wrote, “The time of busy-ness does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon knees at the blessed sacrament.”

So talk to God, always. Besides, it makes more sense to talk to God than mumble to yourself!

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Heals, Not Prayer

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God heals, not prayer. A matter of semantics? No. If you think the power is in the prayer and not the One who hears the prayer, you fault the pray-er for unanswered prayer. “If I had prayed more, better, differently. . .”

The power of prayer is in the One who hears it, not the one who makes it.  So if you are waiting on God to answer your prayer, don’t despair. We need to remember that many of God’s saints endured a time of unanswered prayer. Peter was in a storm before he walked on water. Lazarus was in a grave before he came out of it, the demoniac was possessed before he was a preacher, and the paralytic was on a stretcher before he was in your Bible.

We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. Please don’t interpret the presence of your disease as the absence of God’s love. I pray he heals you. And he will—ultimately!  Till then— keep praying.

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Reminder of Who is in Charge

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Prayer reminds us of who is in charge. You don’t take your requests to someone with less authority. You take them to someone who outranks you in the solutions department.

The same is true in prayer. You don’t pray just to let God know what’s going on. He’s way ahead of you on that one. You pray to transfer “my will be done” to “God’s will be done.”  And, since he’s in charge, he knows the best solution. Prayer transfers the burden to God and He lightens your load. Prayer pushes us through life’s slumps, propels us over the humps, and pulls us out of the dumps. Prayer is the oomph we need to get the answers we seek. So, pray…today!

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Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Special Date

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A quiet time with God is very similar to a special date. Denalyn and I like to go to the same restaurants over and over again. When we’re there we remember special moments we’ve shared before. Our hearts open up. We talk to each other. We listen, we laugh, and sometimes we cry. I love those times!

So does God. A quiet time with God is very similar to a special date. Here are some tools to help you keep your date with Him special. Select a slot in your schedule and claim it for God. Take as much time as you need. Your time with God should last long enough for you to say what you want and for God to say what he wants.

Bring an open Bible—God’s Word, his love letter to you. Bring a listening heart and listen to the lover of your soul. Make sure your date with God is on the calendar, and do everything in your power to keep it special!

From Max on Life

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Don’t Count Sheep

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Fretting over tomorrow’s problems siphons the strength you need for today, leaving you anemic and weak. So, when you can’t sleep—don’t count sheep. Read Scripture.

Worry takes a look at catastrophes and groans, “It’s all coming unraveled.” But God says in Romans 8:28 that “every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

Worry claims, “The world has gone crazy.” God’s Word disagrees. Mark 7:37 says, “He has done it all and done it well.”

Worry wonders if anyone is in control. Yet God’s Word calls Him “the blessed controller of all things.” (1 Tim. 6:14-15 Phillips)

Worry whispers this lie: “God doesn’t know what I need.” But God’s Word declares in Philippians 4:19, “God will take care of everything you need.”

Worry never sleeps. But God’s children do!

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Love is a Decision

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When we look at the love of Christ, we make a wonderful discovery. Love is more a decision than an emotion! Christ-like love applauds good behavior. At the same time Christ-like love refuses to endorse misbehavior. Jesus loved his apostles, but he wasn’t silent when they were faithless. Jesus loved the people in the temple, but he didn’t sit still when they were hypocritical.

Love does whatever is in the best interest of a person. The cheating husband says to his wife, “If you loved me, you’d forget what has happened and let me come home.” That may not be true. Love does what’s in the best interest of a person. Love sets boundaries and seeks counsel.

The love of Christ is no sweet sentiment—but rather a heartfelt resolve to do what’s in the best interest of another person. Sometimes that means dying on a cross!

From Max on Life

 

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Max Lucado – Don’t Replace God

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Vengeance fixes your attention on life’s ugliest moments. Score settling freezes your stare at cruel events in your past. Is that where you want to look? Will rehearsing and reliving your hurts make you a better person? By no means. It will destroy you. Revenge moves God away from the equation. It replaces God.

“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.”

So, God reminds us in Romans 12:19, “I’ll do the judging. I’ll take care of it.” [My paraphrase] Only God assesses accurate judgments. Vengeance is His job. Leave your enemies in God’s hands. Forgiveness is not endorsement of misbehavior. You can hate what someone did without letting hatred consume you. Remember, God occupies the only seat on the supreme court of heaven!

From Max on Life

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Getting Over It

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You’ve been hurt! Part of you is broken, and the other part is bitter. Part of you wants to cry, and part of you wants to fight. And you’re left with a decision. Do I get over it or get even? Do I release it or resent it?

Resentment is when you allow what’s eating you to eat you up. Revenge is the raging fire that consumes the arsonist. Bitterness is the trap that snares the hunter. And mercy is the choice that can set them all free.

“Blessed are the merciful,” Jesus said on the mountain. “They shall be shown mercy.” (Mt. 5:7)

Forgiving others allows us to see how God has forgiven us. The dynamic of giving grace is the key to understanding grace. For it is when we forgive others that we begin to feel what God feels. Set your enemy—and yourself—free!

From Max on Life