!Max Lucado

Nathaniel Hawthorne came home heartbroken. He’d just been fired from his job in the customhouse. His wife, rather than responding with anxiety, surprised him with joy. “Now you can write your book!” she said. He wasn’t so positive. “And what shall we live on while I’m writing it?” he asked. To his amazement she opened a drawer and revealed a wad of money she’d saved out of her housekeeping budget. “I always knew you were a man of genius,” she told him, and “I always knew you’d write a masterpiece.”

She believed in her husband. And because she did, he wrote. And because he wrote, every library in America has a copy of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” You have the power to change someone’s life simply by the words you speak.

From A Love Worth Giving

Wisdom

DECENCY FOR PRESIDENT

 - February 24, 2016

As the father of three daughters, I reserved the right to interview their dates. Seemed only fair to me. After all, my wife and I’d spent 16 or 17 years feeding them, dressing them, funding braces, and driving them to volleyball tournaments and piano recitals. A five-minute face-to-face with the guy was a fair expectation. I was entrusting the love of my life to him. For the next few hours, she would be dependent upon his ability to drive a car, avoid the bad crowds, and stay sober. I wanted to know if he could do it. I wanted to know if he was decent.

This was my word: “decent.” Did he behave in a decent manner? Would he treat my daughter with kindness and respect? Could he be trusted to bring her home on time? In his language, actions, and decisions, would he be a decent guy?

Decency mattered to me as a dad.

Decency matters to you. We take note of the person who pays their debts. We appreciate the physician who takes time to listen. When the husband honors his wedding vows, when the teacher makes time for the struggling student, when the employee refuses to gossip about her co-worker, when the losing team congratulates the winning team, we can characterize their behavior with the word decent.

We appreciate decency. We applaud decency. We teach decency. We seek to develop decency. Decency matters, right?

Then why isn’t decency doing better in the presidential race?

The leading candidate to be the next leader of the free world would not pass my decency interview. I’d send him away. I’d tell my daughter to stay home. I wouldn’t entrust her to his care.

I don’t know Mr. Trump. But I’ve been chagrined at his antics. He ridiculed a war hero. He made mockery of a reporter’s menstrual cycle. He made fun of a disabled reporter. He referred to the former first lady, Barbara Bush as “mommy,” and belittled Jeb Bush for bringing her on the campaign trail. He routinely calls people “stupid,” “loser,” and “dummy.” These were not off-line, backstage, overheard, not-to-be-repeated comments. They were publicly and intentionally tweeted, recorded, and presented.

Such insensitivities wouldn’t even be acceptable even for a middle school student body election. But for the Oval Office? And to do so while brandishing a Bible and boasting of his Christian faith? I’m bewildered, both by his behavior and the public’s support of it.

The stock explanation for his success is this: he has tapped into the anger of the American people. As one man said, “We are voting with our middle finger.” Sounds more like a comment for a gang-fight than a presidential election. Anger-fueled reactions have caused trouble ever since Cain was angry at Abel.

We can only hope, and pray, for a return to decency. Perhaps Mr. Trump will better manage his antics. (Worthy of a prayer, for sure.) Or, perhaps the American public will remember the key role of the president is to be the face of America. When he/she speaks, he/she speaks for us. Whether we agree or disagree with the policies of the president, do we not hope that they behave in a way that is consistent with the status of the office?

As far as I remember, I never turned away one of my daughter’s dates. They weren’t perfect, but they were decent fellows. That was all I could ask.

It seems that we should ask the same.

© Max Lucado
February 21, 2016

Can I get an Amen?

Everyone is looking for joy. Marketing companies know this. Every commercial promises the same product: joy. Want some joy? Buy our hand cream. Want some joy? Sleep on this mattress. Want some joy? Eat at this restaurant, drive this car, wear this dress. Every commercial portrays the image of a joy-filled person. Even Preparation H. Before using the product, the guy frowns and squirms in his chair. Afterwards, he is the image of joy.

Joy. Everyone wants it. Everyone promises it. But can anyone deliver it? It might surprise you to know that joy is a big topic in the Bible. Simply put: God wants his children to be joy-filled. Just like a father wants his baby to laugh with glee, God longs for us to experience a deep-seated, deeply rooted joy.

The joy offered by God joy is different than the one promised at the car dealership or shopping mall. God is not interested in putting a temporary smile on your face. He wants to deposit a resilient hope in your heart. He has no interest in giving you a shallow happiness that melts in the heat of adversity. But he does offer you a joy: a deep-seated, heart-felt, honest-to-goodness, ballistic strong sense of joy that can weather the most difficult of storms.

Peter referred to this joy in the opening words of his epistle.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:8-9 ).

Who was Peter addressing when he spoke of unspeakable joy? He was speaking “To God’s chosen people who are away from their homes and are scattered all around the countries of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (I Pet. 1:1).   Peter was speaking to persecuted Christians–people who had been driven from their cities, separated from their families. Their rights had been taken. Their property had been taken. Their possessions had been taken. Their futures had been taken, but their joy had not been taken. Why? Go back to Peter’s Epistle again- this time in another translation: “You have never seen Jesus and you don’t see him now. But still you love him and have faith in him” (I Pet. 1:8). The source of their joy? Jesus! And since no one could take their Jesus, no one could take their joy.

What about you? What has been taken from you? Your health? Your house? Have you buried a dream? Have you buried a marriage? Buried a friend? As you look at these burial plots of life, is your joy buried there, too?

If so, you may have substituted courageous joy for contingent joy. Contingent joy is always dependent upon a circumstance. Contingent joy says I’ll be happen when…or…I’ll be happy if. I’ll be happy when I have a new house or a new spouse. I’ll be happy when I’m healed or when I’m home. Contingent joy depends upon the right circumstance. Since we cannot control every circumstance, we set ourselves up for disappointment.

Envision the person who buys into the lie of contingent joy. As a young person they assume, if I get a car, I’ll be happy. They get the car, but the car wears out. They look for joy elsewhere. If I get married, I’ll be happy. So they get married, then disappointed. The spouse cannot deliver. This goes on through a series of attempts. If I get the new job… if I can retire… If we just had a baby. In each case, joy comes, then diminishes.

By the time this person reaches old age, he has ridden a roller coaster of hope and disappointment. He becomes sour and fearful. Contingent joy turns us into wounded people.

Courageous joy, however, turns us into strong people. Courageous joy sets the hope of the heart on Jesus and Jesus alone. Since no one can take your Christ, no one can take your joy.

Think about it. Can death take your joy? No, because Jesus is greater than death.

Can failure take your joy? No, because Jesus is greater than your sin.

Can betrayal take your joy? No, because Jesus will never leave you.

Can sickness take your joy? No, because God has promised– whether on this side of the grave or the other–to heal you.

Can disappointment take your joy? No, because though your plan may not work out, you know God’s plan will.

Death, failure, betrayal, sickness, disappointment. They cannot take your joy, because they cannot take your Jesus. And Jesus promised, “No one will take away your joy” (Jn. 16:22).

Is that to say your life will be storm-free? Is that to say no sorrows will come your way? No. “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). Is that to say you will never cross the drylands of sorrow? No. But that is to say your sorrow will not last forever; “Your grief will turn to joy” (Jn. 16:20).

Years ago I lived on a houseboat that was docked on the Miami River. The level of the river would rise and fall with the tide. The boat rocked back and forth with the river traffic. But though the level changed and the boat rocked, we never drifted. Why? Because we were anchored to a concrete sea wall.

Courageously joyful people have done the same. They have anchored their hearts to the shoreline of God. Will the boat rock? Yes. Will moods come and go? No doubt. But will they be left adrift on the Atlantic of despair? No, for they have found a joy which remains courageous through the storm. And this courageous joy is quick to become a contagious joy.

Christians of the New Testament church were not known for their buildings or denominations or programs. They were known for their joy. “They ate together in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts. They praised God and were liked by all people” (Acts 2:46-47).

The early Christians were joyful Christians. In fact you might argue that there is no other type. In the purest sense, the phrase joyful Christian is redundant. We shouldn’t need the adjective. We don’t put the word dead in front of cadaver or wet in front of water or handsome in front of Max. (Just kidding.) Ideally, we shouldn’t have to put joyful in front of Christian.

But we do. We do because we tend to major in contingent joy and not courageous joy. But God can change that.

Assess your joy level: Are you joyless? Do you spread more pessimism than you do hope? If so, God can help you. Grimness is not a Christian virtue.

Believe that joy is possible!

Don’t give in to despair. What Jesus said to his followers, he says to you. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).

Be open to the possibility of a joy from heaven. Joy may be elusive, but it is never gone. Sometimes it just takes some work.

My friend Jerry has taught me the value of gratitude. He is 78 years old and regularly shoots his age on the golf course. (If I ever do the same, I’ll need to live to be a 100). His dear wife Ginger battles Parkinson’s disease. What should have been a wonderful season of retirement has been marred by multiple hospital stays, medication, and struggle. There are many days that she cannot keep her balance. Jerry has to be at her side. Yet Jerry never complains. He always has a smile and a joke. And he relentlessly beats me in golf. I asked Jerry his secret. He said, “Every morning Ginger and I sit together and sing a hymn. I ask her what she wants to sing. She always says, ‘Count Your Many Blessings.’ So we sing. And when we get to the line that says ‘name them one by one’, we do just that: we stop singing and start naming our many blessings, one by one. And when we are through, recognizing the truth of those many, many blessings does much more to relieve her pain and my anxiety than any of her meds could do.”

Anxiety thrives in the petri dish of if only. It doesn’t survive in the world of already. For that reason, treat each anxious thought with a grateful one.

Take a moment and follow Jerry’s example. Look at your blessings.

Do you see any friends? Family? Do you see any grace from God? Love of God? Do you see any gifts? Abilities or talents? Skills?

As you look at your blessings, take note of what happens. Sorrow grabs his bags and slips out the back door. Unhappiness refuses to share a heart with gratitude. One heartfelt thank you will suck the oxygen out of its world. So say it often.

Who is to say God won’t give the same to you? Why don’t you call out to him?

Ask God, “Lord, what is separating me from joy?”

Ask him to replace your contingent joy with courageous joy. Ask him to help you anchor to the firm rock on his shoreline. Ask him to show you the joy that cannot be taken. He will. He will stir a revival of contagious joy in your heart.

©Max Lucado
February, 2016

His hands, His feet

There are as many opinions and attitudes as there are people in this world. We cannot control how others view us but we can manage how we others in our diversities!

We are the Body of Christ and we need to act accordingly!

know yourself....

True humility is not thinking lowly of yourself but thinking accurately of yourself. When Paul writes in Philippians 2:3 “Consider others better than yourselves,” he uses a verb that means to calculate. The word implies a conscious judgment resting on carefully weighed facts. To consider others better than yourself, then, is to say that you know your place.  True humility is quick to applaud the success of others.

~Max Lucado

Max Lucado

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:4, “Love does not envy!” A number of years ago I learned of a new church across town. A friend came to me with this report: The church is great. It’s bursting at the seams—the largest one in town. A more spiritual Max would have rejoiced. A more mature Max would have thanked God. But the Max who heard the report did not act mature or spiritual. He acted jealous. Rather than celebrate God’s work, I was obsessed with my own. I wanted our church to be the biggest. Sickening!

In a profound moment of conviction, God let me know that the church is his church, not mine. The work is his work, not mine. And my life is his life, not mine. My job was not to question him, but to trust him. The cure for jealousy? Trust!

From A Love Worth Giving

Luke 6:35 says, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.”

Impossible on our own? 

Yes... until  you fully comprehend the sacrifice that God made to forgive your sins.

Thank you Jesus!

faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is LOVE

1 John 4:19 it says, “We love, because he first loved us.” 

Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

I am so thankful for the love of God which enables me to love those closest to me and those the farthest away...because He loves all of His creation and I love Him.