Tag Archives: Max Lucado

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!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Stand Up

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Max Lucado

God’s efforts are strongest when our efforts are useless!  I want you to listen to some revealing dialogue between a man who’d been paralyzed for years. Jesus encounters him at the pool of Bethesda where he’d gone hoping to get into the healing waters (John 5).

Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be well?”

“Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool. While I’m coming to the water, someone else always gets in before me.”

“Stand up,” Jesus respond.  “Pick up your mat and walk.”

“And immediately the man picked up his mat and began to walk.”

I wish we would do that; I wish we would take Jesus at His word. I wish we would learn that when He says something, it happens. What is this peculiar paralysis that confines us? What is this stubborn unwillingness to be healed? When Jesus tells us to stand—let’s stand!  Yes, God’s efforts are strongest when our efforts are useless.  So, let’s lean upon Him!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – What Do You Want?

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Max Lucado

I like the story about the fellow who went to the pet store for a singing parakeet.  The store owner had just the bird and the next day the man came home to a house full of music.  When he went to feed the bird he noticed for the first time, the parakeet had only one leg. He called the store and complained. “What do you want,” the store owner responded, “a bird who can sing or a bird who can dance?”

Good question for times of disappointment.  What do we want?  It’s what Jesus asked the disciples when they complained.  And in Luke 24:27, Jesus began to tell them the story of God’s plan for people, “starting with Moses and all the prophets, and everything that had been written about Himself in the Scriptures.”  Jesus’ cure for the broken heart is the story of God.  So what do you want?  If you’re disappointed, turn to the story of God.  He’s still in control!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Don’t Give Up

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Max Lucado

The famous circus promoter, P.T. Barnum said: “There’s a sucker born every minute”—and he spent his life proving it.  Maybe you feel like you’ve been suckered in life.  You don’t want to take another risk.  You don’t want to be hurt again.

Corrie ten Boom used to say, “When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out?  Of course not.  You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.”  Maybe that’s what you need to do, my friend.   Your wounds are deep.  Your disappointments are heavy.  Remember the story of the Emmaus-bound disciples? The Savior they thought was dead now walked beside them. And something happened in their hearts (Luke 24:12-14).  Maybe you are disappointed like they were.  But, can you sense the presence of Christ beside you?  Don’t give up. Don’t jump out. Be patient and let God remind you… He’s in control!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Reason to Sit Tight

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Max Lucado

God knows more about life than we do! And aren’t we glad He does? Be honest. Are we glad He says “no” to what we want and “yes” to what we need? Not always. If we ask for a new marriage, and He says honor the one you’ve got, we aren’t happy. If we ask for healing, and He says learn through the pain, we aren’t happy.

When God doesn’t do what we want, it’s not easy.  Never has been.  Never will be. But faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about this life and He will get us through it. We need to hear that God is in control. We need to hear it is not over until He says so. We need to hear life’s mishaps and tragedies are not a reason to bail out. They are simply a reason to—sit tight!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Follow God’s Impulses

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Max Lucado

What Annie Dillard says about writing in her book, “The Writing Life,” is true about all of life:  “Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.”

There is a wonder to life. Pursue it. Hunt for it. Don’t listen to the whines of those who’ve settled for a second-rate life and want you to do the same so they won’t feel guilty. Your goal is not to live long…it’s to live!

You can’t be criticized for what you don’t try, right?  You can’t lose your balance if you never climb, right?  So, take the safe route.  Or. . . you can follow God’s impulses. He says, “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it.”  Time slips.  Days pass. Years fade. Life ends. And what we came to do must be done while there is time!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Age is No Enemy

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Max Lucado

I remember some years ago when my doctor said, “Nothing to worry about, Max—your condition is pretty common for folks in their mid-age!”

Don’t you hate it when someone reminds you?  Of all the things you couldn’t count on, there was one thing you could, and that was your youth. Just because you’re near the top of the hill doesn’t mean you’ve passed your peak. Your last chapters can be your best. What was intended to be an island of isolation for the apostle John became a place of inspiration, and in his final years he wrote the last book of the Bible.

When J.C. Penney was ninety-five years old, he affirmed, “My eyesight may be getting weaker, but my vision is increasing.”  Many are anticipating the destination.  I hope you are.  And I hope you’ll be ready when you get home.

Age is no enemy.  It’s a mile-marker—a gentle reminder that home has never been so near!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s Adventure

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Max Lucado

What is it about birthdays that causes us to quiver so? Certainly part of the problem is the mirror.  Time may be a great healer, but it’s a lousy beautician. But the real pain is deeper.  Sometimes a dream-come-true-world has come true and it’s less than you’d hoped.  Regret becomes a major pastime.

Luke 17:33 says, “Whoever tries to keep his life safe will lose it, and the one who’s prepared to lose his life will preserve it.” “There are two ways to view life,” Jesus is saying, “those who protect it or those who pursue it.  The wisest are not the ones with the most years in their lives, but the most life in their years.”

You can take the safe route. Or you can hear the voice of adventure—God’s adventure. Adopt the child. Teach the class.  Change careers. Make a difference. Sure it isn’t safe, but what is?