thoughts by Max Lucado Archives - Page 29 of 42

Published June 20, 2015

Do What Pleases God

Years ago a friend gave me this counsel: Make a list of all the lives you would affect by your sexual immorality. I did. The list includes Denalyn, my three daughters, my sons-in-law, and my grandchild. Every so often, I reread it. And the list reminds me that one act of carnality is a poor exchange for a lifetime of lost legacy.

Dads, would you intentionally break the arm of your child? Of course not. Such an action would violate every fiber of your moral being. Yet if you engage in sexual activity outside your marriage, you’ll bring much more pain into the life of your child than would a broken bone.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul asked the rhetorical question: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?”

Actions have consequences. So what do you do? Do what pleases God!

By Max Lucado
From: You’ll Get Through This

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Change Your Focus and Relax

Published May 25, 2015

Change Your Focus and Relax

Psalm 23:2 says, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; leads me beside the still waters.” Note the two pronouns preceding the two verbs. He makes me. . .He leads me. Who is the active one? Who is in charge? The Shepherd!

We see the waves of the water rather than the Savior walking through them. We focus on our paltry provisions rather than on the One who can feed five thousand hungry people. Change your focus—and relax! While you’re at it, change your schedule and rest! Life can get so loud we forget to shut it down. When David says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures,” he is saying my shepherd makes me lie down in his finished work. His pasture is his gift to us. This is not the pasture you’ve made. It is a gift from God, and your Shepherd invites you there!

By Max Lucado
From: Traveling Light

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Published May 8, 2015

Content

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” Philippians 4:11

What if God’s only gift to you were his grace to save you. Would you be content? Content! That’s the word. A state of heart in which you would be at peace if God gave you nothing more than he already has. You beg him to save the life of your child. You implore him to remove the cancer from your body. You plead with him to keep your business afloat. What if his answer is, “My grace is enough.” Would you be content?

You see, from heaven’s perspective, grace IS enough. If God did nothing more than save us from hell, could anyone complain? Having been given eternal life, dare we grumble at an aching body? Let me be quick to add. God has not left you with “just” salvation. He has already given you grace upon grace. The vast majority of us have been saved and then blessed even more!

By Max Lucado
From: In the Grip of Grace
Used by permission
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The Purpose of Life

Published April 28, 2015

The Purpose of Life

As surely as a child breathes, he will someday wonder, “What is the purpose of my life?” Some search for meaning in a career. My purpose is to be a dentist. Fine vocation but hardly a justification for existence. They opt to be a human doing rather than a human being. They work many hours, because if they don’t, they have no identify. For others, who they are is what they have. They find meaning in a new car, a new house, new clothes. They are great for the economy because they’re always seeking meaning in something they own. Sports, entertainment, cults, sex, you name it. Paul says in Romans 1:22, “Claiming themselves to be wise without God, they became utter fools instead.” Contrast that to God’s vision of life when he said, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us!” (Ephesians 2:10).

By Max Lucado
From: In the Grip of Grace

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Thoughts by All thoughts by Max Lucado Thoughts by Men

Published March 16, 2015

We Can Fear Less

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 vise like 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!

By Max Lucado
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
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used by permission
From: Fearless

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Published February 22, 2015

Don’t Replace God

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!

By Max Lucado
From: Max on Life
Used by permission

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Published January 19, 2015

God’s Grace

Nothing fosters courage like a clear grasp of grace. And nothing fosters fear like an ignorance of mercy.

May I speak candidly? If you haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness, you’re doomed to live in fear. Nothing can deliver you from the gnawing realization that you have disregarded your Maker and disobeyed his instruction. No pill, pep talk, psychiatrist, or possession can set the sinner’s heart at ease. You may deaden the fear, but you can’t remove it. Only God’s grace can.

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Your prayer can be as simple as, “Father, I need forgiveness. Please forgive me. I place my soul in your hands and trust in your grace. Through Jesus I pray, amen.”

Having received God’s forgiveness, live forgiven!

By Max Lucado
From : Max on Life

Used by permission
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Published November 23, 2014

Words of Strength

‘The love you have shown to God’s people has refreshed them.”
Philemon 7

“When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need – words that
will help others become stronger” (Ephesians 4:29). Before you speak, ask: Will
what I’m about to say help others become stronger? You have the ability, with
your words to make a person stronger. Your words are to their soul what a vitamin is
to their body. If you had food and saw someone starving, would you not share it? If
you had water and saw someone dying of thirst, would you not give it? Of course you would.
Then won’t you do the same for their hearts? Your words are food and water!

Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged.

Do not keep affirmation from the beaten down!

Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you.

By Max Lucado
Used by permission
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Published November 8, 2014

Want

Come with me to the world’s most oppressive prison. The name of the prison? You’ll see it over the entrance. WANT! The prison of want. They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster. Thinner. They want just one thing. One new job. One new car. One new spouse. They want just one. And when they have “one,” they’ll be happy. But then it happens. The new car smell passes. The new job gets old. The new spouse has bad habits.

Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. But there’s good news. You have a visitor—with a message that can get you parole. “I have a secret to tell you,” he whispers., “the secret of satisfaction.”

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!” Psalm 23. What you have in God is greater than what you don’t have in life!

By Max Lucado
From: Traveling Light
Used by permission

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I Choose

Published October 18, 2014

I Choose

It’s quiet. It’s early. For the next 12 hours I’ll be exposed to the day’s demands. It’s now that I must make a choice. And so I choose—love. I will love God and what God loves.

I choose joy.
I choose peace. I will live forgiven.
I choose patience—Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I’ll thank God for a moment to pray.
I choose kindness—for that’s how God has treated me.
I choose goodness.
I choose faithfulness. Today I’ll keep my promises. My wife will not question my love.
I choose gentleness. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.
I choose self-control. I will be impassioned only by my faith and influenced only by God.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When this day is done, I’ll place my head on my pillow and rest. (1Timothy 6:11)

By Max Lucado
From: When God Whispers Your Name

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Published August 14, 2014

The Son of Man

Matthew 20:28 says of Jesus, “The Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and give His life as a ransom for many people.”

As a young boy, I read a Russian fable about a master and a servant who went on a journey. Before they reached their destination they were caught in a blizzard and lost their direction. When they were found the master was frozen to death, face down in the snow. When they lifted him they found the servant, cold but alive. The master had voluntarily placed himself on top of the servant so the servant could live.

Jesus did the same for you! Jesus wears a sovereign crown but he bears a father’s heart. The King who suffers for the peasant, the Master who sacrifices himself for the servant. He is the Son of Man who came to serve and to give his life as a ransom—for you!

By Max Lucado
From: And the Angels Were Silent

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Published July 26, 2014

Judgment is God’s Job

There is power in revenge. Intoxicating power. Haven’t we tasted it? Haven’t we been tempted to get even? As we escort the offender into the courtroom, we announce, “He hurt me!” and jurors shake their heads in disgust. “He abandoned me!” we explain, and the chambers echo with our accusation. “Guilty!” the judge snarls as he slams the gavel. “Guilty!” the jury agrees. We delight in this moment of justice. We relish this pound of flesh.

I don’t mean to be cocky, but why are you doing God’s work for Him? “Vengeance” is Mine,” God declared. “I will repay.” Proverbs 20:22 says, “Don’t say, ‘I’ll pay you back for the wrong you did.’ Wait for the Lord, and He will make things right.” Judgment is God’s job. To assume otherwise is to assume God can’t do it. God has not asked us to settle the score or get even. Ever!

By Max Lucado
From: When God Whispers Your Name
Used by permission
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Published June 25, 2014

God Is!

Look around you! Rather than shocking the globe with an occasional demonstration of deity, God has opted to display his power daily. Proverbially. Pounding waves. Prism-cast colors. Birth, death, life. We’re surrounded by miracles. God is throwing testimonies at us like fireworks, each one exploding, “God is! God is!”

The Psalmist marveled at such holy handiwork. “Where can I go from your Spirit?” he questioned with delight. “Where can I go from your presence? (Psalm 139:7).

We wonder, with so many miraculous testimonies around us, how we could escape God. But somehow we do. We live in an art gallery of divine creativity, and yet are content to gaze only at the carpet.

The next time you hear a baby laugh, take note as His Majesty whispers ever so gently, “I’m here!”

By Max Lucado
From: God Came Near

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Published June 19, 2014

The Command to Do Nothing

When I was ten, my mother enrolled me in piano lessons. Spending thirty minutes every afternoon tethered to a piano bench was a torture just one level away from swallowing broken glass.

I hammered the staccatos. I belabored the crescendos. But there was one instruction in the music I could never obey to my teacher’s satisfaction. The rest. The zigzagged command to do nothing. Nothing! What sense does that make? “Because,” my teacher patiently explained, “music is always sweeter after a rest.”

“Be still,” the scripture says, “and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Perhaps it is time for you to let the music slow to a stop…and be still and rest.

By Max Lucado
From: The Applause of Heaven
Used by permission

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Desperate Dads Go to Jesus

Published June 15, 2014

Desperate Dads Go to Jesus

In Mark 5:23 we meet Jairus—a leader of the synagogue—one of the most important men in the community. But the man in this story is a humble man, saying again and again, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” He doesn’t barter with Jesus. He doesn’t negotiate. He doesn’t make excuses. He just pleads!

There are times when everything you have to offer is nothing compared to what you’re asking to receive. What could a man offer in exchange for his child’s life? So there are no games, no haggling. Jairus asks for help. Jesus, who loves the honest heart, goes to give it. And God, who knows what it’s like to lose a child, empowers His Son!

By Max Lucado
From: Dad Time

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