Category: <span>thoughts by Max Lucado</span>

By Max Lucado
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“If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right.� 1 John 1:9 (NCV)

“If we confess our sins…” The biggest word in Scriptures just might be that two letter one, ‘if‘. For confessing sins–admitting failure–is exactly what prisoners of pride refuse to do.

“Me a sinner? Oh sure, I get rowdy every so often, but I’m a pretty good ol’ boy.”
“Listen, I’m just as good as the next guy. I pay my taxes. . . .”

Justification. Rationalization. Comparison….They sound good. They sound familiar. They even sound American. But in the kingdom, they sound hollow….

When you get to the point of sorrow for your sins, when you admit that you have no other option,… then cast all your cares on him for he is waiting.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/10/18/ml_sorrow-for-sin/

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Max Lucado
From: The Applause of Heaven
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1990)
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

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By Max Lucado
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“God has planted eternity in the hearts of men.�
Ecclesiastes 3:10 (TLB)

It doesn’t take a wise person to know that people long for more than earth. When we see pain, we yearn. When we see hunger, we question why. Senseless deaths. Endless tears, needless loss. . . .

We have our moments. The newborn on our breast, the bride on our arm, the sunshine on our back. But even those moments are simply slivers of light breaking through heaven’s window. God flirts with us. He tantalizes us. He romances us. Those moments are appetizers for the dish that is to come.

 “No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him“ (1 Corinthians 2:9).

What a breathtaking verse! Do you see what it says? Heaven is beyond our imagination…. At our most creative moment, at our deepest thought, at our highest level, we still cannot fathom eternity.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/10/02/ml_eternity/

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Max Lucado
From: When God Whispers Your Name
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1994)
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

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by Max Lucado
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You live one final breath from your own funeral.

Which, from God’s perspective, is nothing to grieve. He responds to these grave facts with this great news: “The day you die is better than the day you are born� (Ecclesiastes 7:1). Now there is a twist. Heaven enjoys a maternity-ward reaction to funerals. Angels watch body burials the same way grandparents monitor delivery-room doors. “He’ll be coming through any minute!� They can’t wait to see the new arrival. While we’re driving hearses and wearing black, they’re hanging pink and blue streamers and passing out cigars. We don’t grieve when babies enter the world. The hosts of heaven don’t weep when we leave it.

Oh, but many of us weep at the thought of death. Do you? Do you dread your death? And is your dread of death robbing your joy of life?

Jesus came to “deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying� (Hebrews 2:15).

Your death may surprise you and sadden others, but heaven knows no untimely death: “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed� (Psalm 139:16).

Dread of death ends when you know heaven is your true home. In all my air travels I’ve never seen one passenger weep when the plane landed. Never. No one clings to the armrests and begs, “Don’t make me leave. Don’t make me leave. Let me stay and eat more peanuts.� We’re willing to exit because the plane has no permanent mailing address. Nor does this world. “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior� (Philippians 3:20).

Why don’t you do this: give God your death. Imagine your last breath, envision your final minutes, and offer them to him. Deliberately. Regularly. “Lord, I receive your work on the cross and in your resurrection. I entrust you with my departure from earth.� With Christ as your friend and heaven as your home, the day of death becomes sweeter than the day of birth.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
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Max Lucado
From: Come Thirsty
 (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

by Max Lucado
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Through Christ, God has accepted you. Think about what this means. You cannot keep people from rejecting you. But you can keep rejections from enraging you.

Rejections are like speed bumps on the road. They come with the journey. You’re going to get cut, dished, dropped, and kicked around. You cannot keep people from rejecting you. But you can keep rejections from enraging you. How? By letting his acceptance compensate for their rejection.

Think of it this way. Suppose you dwell in a high-rise apartment. On the window sill of your room is a solitary daisy. This morning you picked the daisy and pinned it on your lapel. Since you have only one plant, this is a big event and a special daisy.

But as soon as you’re out the door, people start picking petals off your daisy. Someone snags your subway seat. Petal picked. You’re blamed for the bad report of a coworker. Three petals. The promotion is given to someone with less experience but USC water polo looks. More petals. By the end of the day, you’re down to one. Woe be to the soul who dares to draw near it. You’re only one petal-snatching away from a blowup.

What if the scenario was altered slightly? Let’s add one character. The kind man in the apartment next door runs a flower shop on the corner. Every night on the way home he stops at your place with a fresh, undeserved, yet irresistible bouquet. These are not leftover flowers. They are top-of-the-line arrangements. You don’t know why he thinks so highly of you, but you aren’t complaining. Because of him, your apartment has a sweet fragrance, and your step has a happy bounce. Let someone mess with your flower, and you’ve got a basketful to replace it!

The difference is huge. And the interpretation is obvious.

God will load your world with flowers. He hand-delivers a bouquet to your door every day. Open it! Take them! Then, when rejections come, you won’t be left short-petaled.

God can help you get rid of your anger. He made galaxies no one has ever seen and dug canyons we have yet to find. “The LORD … heals all your diseases� (Psalms 103:2–3 NIV). Do you think among those diseases might be the affliction of anger?

Do you think God could heal your angry heart?

Do you want him to? This is not a trick question. He asks the same question of you that he asked of the invalid: “Do you want to be well?� (John 5:6). Not everyone does. You may be addicted to anger. You may be a rage junkie. Anger may be part of your identity. But if you want him to, he can change your identity. Do you want him to do so?

Do you have a better option? Like moving to a rejection-free zone? If so, enjoy your life on your desert island.

Take the flowers. Receive from him so you can love or at least put up with others.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/08/24/ml_bouquets/

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Max Lucado
From: A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

By Max Lucado
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“A friend loves you all the time.�
Proverbs 17:17 (NCV)

One gets the impression that to John, Jesus … was above all a loyal companion. Messiah? Yes. Son of God? Indeed. Miracle worker? That, too. But more than anything Jesus was a pal. Someone you could go camping with or bowling with or count the stars with. . . .

Now what do you do with a friend? (Well, that’s rather simple too.) You stick by him. 

Maybe that is why John is the only one of the twelve who was at the cross. He came to say good-bye. By his own admission he hadn’t quite put the pieces together yet. But that didn’t really matter. As far as he was concerned, his closest friend was in trouble and he came to help.

“Can you take care of my mother?�
Of course. That’s what friends are for.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/08/05/ml_what-friends-do/

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Max Lucado
From: No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2003)
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

 

By Max Lucado
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“God will show his mercy forever and ever to those who worship and serve him.” Luke 1:50 (NCV)

God does not save us because of what we’ve done. Only a puny god could be bought with tithes. Only an egotistical god would be impressed with our pain. Only a temperamental god could be satisfied by sacrifices. Only a heartless god would sell salvation to the highest bidders.

And only a great God does for his children what they can’t do for themselves.

God’s delight is received upon surrender, not awarded upon conquest. The first step to joy is a plea for help, an acknowledgment of moral destitution, an admission of inward paucity. Those who taste God’s presence have declared spiritual bankruptcy and are aware of their spiritual crisis…. Their pockets are empty. Their options are gone. They have long since stopped demanding justice; they are pleading for mercy.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/07/26/ml_spiritual-bankruptcy/

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Max Lucado
From: The Applause of Heaven
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1990)
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

by Max Lucado
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A few days before our wedding, Denalyn and I enjoyed and endured a sailing voyage. Milt, a Miami church friend, had invited Denalyn, her mom, and me to join him and a few others on a leisurely cruise along the Florida coast.

Initially it was just that. Leisure. We stretched out on cushions, hung feet over the side, caught some zzz’s and rays. Nice.

But then came the storm. The sky darkened, the rain started, and the flat ocean humped like a dragon’s neck. Sudden waves of water tilted the vessel up until we saw nothing but sky and then downward until we saw nothing but blue. I learned this about sailing: there is nothing swell about a swell. Tanning stopped. Napping ceased. Eyes turned first to the thunderclouds, then to the captain. We looked to Milt.

He was deliberate and decisive. He told some people where to sit, others what to do, and all of us to hang on. And we did what he said. Why? We knew he knew best. No one else knew the difference between starboard and stern. Only Milt did. We trusted him. We knew he knew.

And we knew we didn’t. Prior to the winds, we might have boasted about Boy Scout merit badges in sailing or bass-boat excursions. But once the storm hit, we shut up. (Except for Denalyn, who threw up.) We had no choice but to trust Milt. He knew what we didn’t—and he cared. The vessel was captained, not by a hireling or a stranger, but by a pal. Our safety mattered to him. So we trusted him.

Oh, that the choice were equally easy in life. Need I remind you about your westerly winds? With the speed of lightning and the force of a thunderclap, williwaws anger tranquil waters. Victims of sudden storms populate unemployment lines and ICU wards. You know the winds. You’ve felt the waves. Good-bye, smooth sailing. Hello, rough waters.

Such typhoons test our trust in the Captain. Does God know what he is doing? Can he get us out? Why did he allow the storm?

Can you say about God what I said about Milt?

1. I know God knows what’s best.
2. I know I don’t.
3: I know he cares.

Such words come easily when the water is calm. But when you’re looking at a wrecked car or a suspicious-looking mole, when war breaks out or thieves break in, do you trust him?

To embrace God’s sovereignty is to drink from the well of his lordship and make a sailboat-in-the-storm decision. Not in regard to Milt and the sea, but in regard to God and life. You look toward the Captain and resolve: he knows what’s best.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/07/15/ml_in-god-we-nearly-trust/

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Max Lucado
From: Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

 

By Max Lucado
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“Always be ready, because you don’t know the day your Lord will come.�
Matthew 24:42 (NCV)

Every person who has ever lived will be present at that final gathering. Every heart that has ever beat. Every mouth that has ever spoken. On that day you will be surrounded by a sea of people. Rich, poor. Famous, unknown. Kings, bums. Brilliant, demented. All will be present. And all will be looking in one direction. All will be looking at him. Every human being.

“The Son of Man will come again in his great glory� (Matthew 25:31).

You won’t look at anyone else. No side glances to see what others are wearing. No whispers about new jewelry or comments about who is present. At this, the greatest gathering in history, you will have eyes for only one—the Son of Man. Wrapped in splendor. Shot through with radiance. Imploded with light and magnetic in power.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/07/08/ml_final-gathering/

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Max Lucado
From: And the Angels Were Silent
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2003)

Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

by Max Lucado
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Use your uniqueness to take great risks for God!

The only mistake is not to risk making one.

Such was the error of the one-talent servant. Did the master notice him? Indeed, he did. And from the third servant we learn a sobering lesson.
“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground’ ”
(Matthew 25: 24–25).

Contrast the reaction of the third servant with that of the first two.
The faithful servants “went and traded� (v. 16). The fearful one “went and dug�
(v. 18).

The first two invested. The last one buried.

The first two went out on a limb. The third hugged the trunk.

The master wouldn’t stand for it. Brace yourself for the force of his response. “You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest�
(vv. 26–27).

Whoa. What just happened? Why the blowtorch? Find the answer in the missing phrase. The master repeated the assessment of the servant, word for word, with one exclusion. Did you note it? “I knew you to be a hard man� (v. 24). The master didn’t repeat the description he wouldn’t accept.

The servant levied a cruel judgment by calling the master a hard man. The servant used the exact word for “hard� that Christ used to describe stiff-necked and stubborn Pharisees (see Matthew 19:8; Acts 7:51). The writer of Hebrews employed the term to beg readers not to harden their hearts (3:8). The one-talent servant called his master stiff-necked, stubborn, and hard.

His sin was not mismanagement, but misunderstanding. Was his master hard? He gave multimillion-dollar gifts to undeserving servants; he honored the two-talent worker as much as the five; he stood face to face with both at homecoming and announced before the audiences of heaven and hell, “Well done, good and faithful servant.�

Was this a hard master? Infinitely good, graciously abundant, yes. But hard? No.

The one-talent servant never knew his master. He should have. He lived under his roof and shared his address. He knew his face, his name, but he never knew his master’s heart. And, as a result, he broke it.

Who is this unprofitable servant? If you never use your gifts for God, you are. If you think God is a hard God, you are.
 
For fear of doing the wrong thing for God, you’ll do nothing for God. For fear of making the wrong kingdom decision, you’ll make no kingdom decision. For fear of messing up, you’ll miss out. You will give what this servant gave and will hear what this servant heard: “You wicked and lazy servant� (v. 26).

But you don’t have to. It’s not too late to seek your Father’s heart. Your God is a good God.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/06/24/ml_good-god/

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Max Lucado
From: Cure for the Common Life; Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

by Max Lucado
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Anger. It’s a peculiar yet predictable emotion. It begins as a drop of water. An irritant. A frustration. Nothing big, just an aggravation. Someone gets your parking place.

Someone pulls in front of you on the freeway. A waitress is slow and you are in a hurry. The toast burns. Drops of water. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Yet, get enough of these seemingly innocent drops of anger and before long you’ve got a bucket full of rage. Walking revenge.

Blind bitterness. Unharnessed hatred. We trust no one and bare our teeth at anyone who gets near. We become walking time bombs that, given just the right tension and fear, could explode.

Yet, what do we do? We can’t deny that our anger exists. How do we harness it? A good option is found in Luke 23:34. Here, Jesus speaks about the mob that killed him. “‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’�

Look carefully. It’s as if Jesus considered this bloodthirsty, death-hungry crowd not as murderers, but as victims. It’s as if he saw in their faces not hatred but confusion. It’s as if he regarded them not as a militant mob but, as he put it, as “sheep without a shepherd.�  “They don’t know what they are doing.�

And when you think about it, they didn’t. They hadn’t the faintest idea what they were doing. They were a stir-crazy mob, mad at something they couldn’t see so they took it out on, of all people, God. But they didn’t know what they were doing.

And for the most part, neither do we. We are still, as much as we hate to admit it, shepherdless sheep. All we know is that we were born out of one eternity and are frighteningly close to another. We play tag with the fuzzy realities of death and pain. We can’t answer our own questions about love and hurt. We can’t solve the riddle of aging. We don’t know how to heal our own bodies or get along with our own mates. We can’t keep ourselves out of war. We can’t even keep ourselves fed.

Paul spoke for humanity when he confessed, “I do not know what I am doing.� (Romans 7:15, author’s paraphrase.)

Now, I know that doesn’t justify anything. That doesn’t justify hit-and-run drivers or kiddie-porn peddlers or heroin dealers. But it does help explain why they do the miserable things they do.

My point is this: Uncontrolled anger won’t better our world, but sympathetic understanding will. Once we see the world and ourselves for what we are, we can help. Once we understand ourselves we begin to operate not from a posture of anger but of compassion and concern. We look at the world not with bitter frowns but with extended hands. We realize that the lights are out and a lot of people are stumbling in the darkness. So we light candles.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/06/19/ml_dont-know/

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Max Lucado
From: No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
© (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

by Max Lucado
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“Be strong in the Lord and in his great power.”  
Ephesians 6:10 (NCV)

I stand a few feet from a mirror and see the face of a man who failed, … who failed his Maker. Again. I promised I wouldn’t, but I did. I was quiet when I should have been bold. I took a seat when I should have taken a stand.

If this were the first time, it would be different. But it isn’t. How many times can one fall and expect to be caught?…

Your eyes look in the mirror and see a sinner, a failure, a promise-breaker. But by faith you look in the mirror and see a robed prodigal bearing the ring of grace on your finger and the kiss of your Father on your face….

Your eyes see your faults. Your faith sees your Savior.

Your eyes see your guilt. Your faith sees his blood.  

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/05/15/ml_faith-sees/

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Max Lucado
From: When God Whispers Your Name
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1994)
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

by Max Lucado
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“The Lord is good.  His love is forever, and his loyalty goes on and on.� (Psalm 100:5)

 Listen closely. Jesus’ love does not depend upon what we do for him.  Not at all.  In the eyes of the King, you have value simply because you are.  You don’t have to look nice or perform well,  Your value is inborn.

Period.

Think about that for just a minute.  You are valuable just because you exist.  Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.  Remember that the next time you are bobbing in the wake of someone’s steamboat ambition. 

Remember that the next time some trickster  tries to hang a bargain basement price tag on your self-worth.  The next time someone tries to pass you off as a cheap buy, just think about he way Jesus honors you … and smile.

I do.  I smile because I know I don’t deserve love like that.  None of us do.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/05/11/ml_honors/

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Max Lucado
From: No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

By Max Lucado
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“. . . shall not perish but have eternal life . . .� John 3:16

On a trip to China, I rode past Tiananmen Square in a bus full of Westerners. We tried to recollect the causes and consequences of the revolt. Our knowledge of history was embarrassing. One gave one date; another gave a different one. One person remembered a certain death toll; someone else disagreed. All this time our translator remained silent.

Finally one of us asked her, “Do you remember anything about the Tiananmen Square revolt?�

Her answer was solemn. “Yes, I was a part of it.�

We quickly grew quiet as she gave firsthand recollections of the bloodshed and oppression. We listened, because she’d been there.

We who follow Christ do so for the same reason. He’s been there . . .
He’s been to Bethlehem, wearing barn rags and hearing sheep crunch. Suckling milk and shivering against the cold. All of divinity content to cocoon itself in an eight-pound body and to sleep on a cow’s supper. Millions who face the chill of empty pockets or the fears of sudden change turn to Christ. Why?

Because he’s been there.

He’s been to Nazareth, where he made deadlines and paid bills; to Galilee, where he recruited direct reports and separated fighters; to Jerusalem, where he stared down critics and stood up against cynics.

We have our Nazareths’ as well—demands and due dates. Jesus wasn’t the last to build a team; accusers didn’t disappear with Jerusalem’s temple. Why seek Jesus’ help with your challenges? Because he’s been there. To Nazareth, to Galilee, to Jerusalem.

But most of all, he’s been to the grave. Not as a visitor, but as a corpse. Buried amidst the cadavers. Numbered among the dead. Heart silent and lungs vacant. Body wrapped and grave sealed. The cemetery. He’s been buried there.

You haven’t yet. But you will be. And since you will, don’t you need someone who knows the way out?

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2008/04/20/ml_been-there

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Max LucadoFrom:  3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2007) Max Lucado
Used by permission:

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

by Max Lucado
________________________________________________

“. . . whoever believes in him shall not perish . . ”
John 3:16

How could a loving God send sinners to hell? He doesn’t. They volunteer.

Once there, they don’t want to leave. The hearts of damned fools never soften; their minds never change. Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. (Revelations 16:9 NKJV). Contrary to the idea that hell prompts remorse, it doesn’t. It intensifies blasphemy.

Remember the rich man in torment? He could see heaven but didn’t request a transfer. He wanted Lazarus to descend to him. Why not ask if he could join Lazarus? The rich man complained of thirst, not of injustice. He wanted water for the body, not water for the soul. Even the longing for God is a gift from God, and where there is no more of God’s goodness, there is no longing for him. Though every knee shall bow before God and every tongue confess his preeminence (Romans 14:11), the hard-hearted will do so stubbornly and without worship. There will be no atheists in hell (Philippians 2:10-11), but there will be no God-seekers either.

But still we wonder, is the punishment fair? Such a penalty seems inconsistent with a God of love, overkill. A sinner’s rebellion doesn’t warrant an eternity of suffering, does it?

Isn’t God overreacting?

Who are we to challenge God?

Only he knows the full story, the number of invitations the stubborn-hearted have refused and the slander they’ve spewed.

Accuse God of unfairness? He has wrapped caution tape on hell’s porch and posted a million and one red flags outside the entrance. To descend its stairs, you’d have to cover your ears, blindfold your eyes, and, most of all, ignore the epic sacrifice of history: Christ, in God’s hell on humanity’s cross, crying out to the blackened sky, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

The supreme surprise of hell is this: Christ went there so you won’t have to.

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Max Lucado
From: 3:16, The Numbers of Hope Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado  Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/
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