Tag Archives: Max Lucado

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Looks at the Heart

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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?

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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?

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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?

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Take a Step

Leave a comment

Max Lucado

Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. Faith is the belief that God will do what is right. My translation of the first few verses of Matthew, Chapter 5 say, “Blessed are the dirt-poor, nothing-to-give, trapped-in-a-corner, destitute, diseased,” and Jesus said, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

God says the more hopeless your circumstance, the more likely your salvation.  The greater your cares, the more genuine your prayers. Healing begins when we depend on Him. God’s help is near and always available, but it’s only given to those who seek it. Compared to God’s part, our part is minuscule but necessary.

Ask forgiveness. Call a counselor. Confess. Call mom. Visit a doctor. Feed a hungry person. Pray. Teach. Go. Do something that demonstrates faith. For faith with no effort is no faith at all. God will respond.  He has never rejected a genuine gesture of faith.  Never!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Your Agenda

Leave a comment

Max Lucado

It’s easy to forget who’s the servant and who’s to be served. The tool of distortion is one of Satan’s slyest.  When the focus is on yourself, you worry that your co-workers won’t appreciate you.  Your leaders will overwork you.  With time, your agenda becomes more important than God’s. You’re more concerned with presenting self than pleasing Him.  You may even find yourself doubting God’s judgment.

Remember Mary criticizing her sister Martha, “Lord don’t you care that my sister has left me alone to do all the work?  Tell her to help me.” (Luke 40:10) What had Mary chosen?  She’d chosen to sit at the feet of Christ.  God is more pleased with the quiet attention of a sincere servant than the noisy service of a sour one!

Guard your attitude. If you concern yourself with your neighbor’s talents, you’ll neglect your own. But if you concern yourself with yours, you could inspire both!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Your True Family

Leave a comment

Max Lucado

Look how Jesus defined his family in Mark 3:35.  “My true brother and sister and mother are those who do what God wants.”  When Jesus’ family did not share His convictions, He didn’t try to force them.  He recognized that His spiritual family could provide what His physical family did not.  If Jesus Himself couldn’t force His family to share His convictions, what makes you think you can force yours?

If your father is a jerk, you could be the world’s best daughter and he still won’t tell you so. As long as you think you can control people’s behavior toward you, you’re held in bondage by their opinions. It’s a game with unfair rules and fatal finishes. Jesus didn’t play it, nor should you.

Let God give you what your earthly family doesn’t.  If your earthly father does not affirm you, then let your heavenly Father take His place!  Let God be the family you need.

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Your Place at God’s Table

Leave a comment

Max Lucado

Angry.  Sullen.  Accusatory.  Whiny.  Put them all together in one word and spell it b-i-t-t-e-r.  If you put them all in one person, that person’s in the pit, the dungeon of bitterness.  The dungeon calls you to enter.  You can, you know. You’ve experienced enough hurt.  You’ve been betrayed enough times. You can choose, like many, to chain yourself to your hurt.

Or you can choose, like some, to put away your hurts.  You can choose to go to the party.  You have a place there. If you’re a child of God, no one can take away your sonship. Which is precisely what the father said to his prodigal son in Luke 15. “You are always with me; all that I have is yours.”

What you have is more important than what you don’t have, and that is, your relationship with God the Father!  Your place at God’s table is permanent!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Not Guilty

Leave a comment

Max Lucado

Sometimes shame is private. Pushed over the edge by an abusive spouse. Molested by a perverted parent. Seduced by a compromising superior. No one else knows.  But you know.  And that’s enough. Sometimes shame is public. Branded by a divorce you didn’t want. Contaminated by a disease you never expected. Whether private or public, shame is always painful. And unless you deal with it, it’s permanent.

In John 8:11 Jesus confronts the woman who’d formerly been caught in the act of adultery.  When the crowd would have stoned her, Jesus speaks:  “Anyone here who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her.” As all turned to leave, Jesus said, “I also don’t judge you guilty. You may go now, but don’t sin anymore.”

Jesus’ message is written not with His hand, but with His blood. On a cross. Let Him stand beside you. Listen carefully.  He’s speaking. “Not guilty!”

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Goodness and Mercy

Leave a comment

Max Lucado

Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. God is faithful, for He cannot betray Himself. He is a sure God. And because He is, we can state confidently what David exclaimed in his 23rd Psalm:  “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

What are those words that follow the word surely? “Goodness and mercy.” If the Lord is the shepherd who leads the flock, goodness and mercy are the two sheepdogs that guard the rear of the flock! Goodness AND mercy.  Not goodness alone, for we are sinners in need of mercy. Not mercy alone, for we are fragile, in need of goodness. We need them both. Goodness and mercy—the celestial escort of God’s flock.  If that duo doesn’t reinforce your faith, try this phrase: “all the days of my life!”

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Place at God’s Table

Leave a comment

Max Lucado

God gives hope!  So what if someone was born thinner or stronger? Why count diplomas or compare resumes? What does it matter if they have a place at the head table?  You have a place at God’s table—and He’s filling your cup to overflowing!

The overflowing cup was a powerful symbol in the days of David. As long as the host kept the cup full, the guest knew he was welcome. When the cup sat empty, the host was hinting that the hour was late. On those occasions when the host really enjoyed the company of the person, he filled the cup to overflowing; he kept pouring until the liquid ran over the edge of the cup and down on the table.

Have you noticed how wet your table is? God wants you to stay. Your cup overflows with joy. Overflows with grace. Shouldn’t your heart overflow with gratitude?