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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Max Lucado
Read between
April 30 - May 25, 2020
You have one, you know, a song all your own. Each of us does. The only question is, will you play it?
Changing direction in life is not tragic. Losing passion in life is. Something happens to us along the way. Convictions to change the world downgrade to commitments to pay the bills. Rather than make a difference, we make a salary. Rather than look forward, we look back. Rather than look outward, we look inward.
Call it a career shift. He went from dining with the heads of state to counting heads of sheep. Hardly an upward move.
God ain’t finished with you yet.
Everybody knows that self-denial is the first step to holiness. Surely God’s voice is first heard by hermits.
He likes the idea of going somewhere. God’s people need to be on the move. Probably taking us somewhere to preach, he is thinking to himself.
In Jesus he saw a man of deep thought. A man of meditation. A heart of contemplation. A man who, like Nathanael, had spent hours under the fig tree reflecting on the mysteries of life.
he was hoping this journey was a missionary one—out of Galilee. Out of Judea. Into a distant land.
Did such speculation occur? Who knows? I know it does today.
“Why would we go to a wedding?” Good question. Why would Jesus, on his first journey, take his followers to a party? Didn’t they have work to do? Didn’t he have principles to teach? Wasn’t his time limited? How could a wedding fit with his purpose on earth?
When the bride and groom were putting the guest list together, Jesus’ name was included. And when Jesus showed up with a half-dozen friends, the invitation wasn’t rescinded. Whoever was hosting this party was happy to have Jesus present.
Jesus wasn’t invited because he was a celebrity. He wasn’t one yet. The invitation wasn’t motivated by his miracles. He’d yet to perform any. Why did they invite him? I suppose they liked him.
I think it’s noteworthy that the Almighty didn’t act high and mighty. The Holy One wasn’t holier-than-thou. The One who knew it all wasn’t a know-it-all.
His purpose was not to show off but to show up.
His purpose wasn’t to turn the water to wine. That was a favor for his friends.
He did it for his mother
TRUE HEROES are hard to identify. They don’t look like heroes.
He never received a salary. Had to pay his own travel expenses. Kept a part-time job on the side to make ends meet.
“The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them” (Rom. 8:14).
But could our assumption be wrong? Could it be that the angel’s voice was every bit as miraculous as the one you and I hear?
We learn brevity from Jesus. His greatest sermon can be read in eight minutes (Matt. 5–7). His best-known story can be read in ninety seconds (Luke 15:11–32). He summarized prayer in five phrases (Matt. 6:9–13). He silenced accusers with one challenge (John 8:7). He rescued a soul with one sentence (Luke 23:43). He summarized the Law in three verses (Mark 12:29–31), and he reduced all his teachings to one command (John 15:12).
Never miss a chance to read a child a story.
Pursue forgiveness, not innocence.
Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did.
You’ll give up on yourself before God will.
You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.
I’m not for watering down the truth or compromising the gospel. But if a fellow with a pure heart calls God Father, can’t I call that same man Brother? If God doesn’t make doctrinal perfection a requirement for family membership, should I?
The consequence of such a philosophy is predictable. If you are the sum of what you own, then by all means own it all. No price is too high. No payment is too much.
Greed is not defined by what something costs; it is measured by what it costs you.
If anything costs you your faith or your family, the price is too high.
Beethoven was hearing the sound the instrument should make, not the one it did make.1
Revenge is irreverent. When we strike back we are saying, “I know vengeance is yours, God, but I just didn’t think you’d punish enough. I thought I’d better take this situation into my own hands. You have a tendency to be a little soft.”
To forgive someone is to admit our limitations. We’ve been given only one piece of life’s jigsaw puzzle. Only God has the cover of the box.
To forgive someone is to display reverence. Forgiveness is not saying the one who hurt you was right. Forgiveness is stating that God is fair and he will do what is right.
For that reason, the Father flexed his muscles. “God’s power is very great for those who believe,” Paul taught. “That power is the same as the great strength God used to raise Christ from the dead” (Eph. 1:19–20).
We can’t choose our parents, but we can choose our mentors.
Do you rise above the past and make a difference? Or do you remain controlled by the past and make excuses?
“Shine on, harvest moon,” the people would sing. And he did. Well, in a way he did. You see, the moon didn’t actually shine. He reflected. He took the light given to him by the sun and redirected it toward the earth. A simple task of receiving illumination and sharing it.
Living off the praise of others is an erratic diet.”
Paul had an interesting observation about the way we treat people. He said it about marriage, but the principle applies in any relationship. “The man who loves his wife loves himself ” (Eph. 5:28).
2. Are there any unresolved conflicts in my world? “If you enter a place of worship and, about to make an offering, suddenly remember a grudge that a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God” (Matt. 5:23–24 THE MESSAGE).
Better to pray awkwardly than not at all.
“Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead let us encourage one another” (Heb>. 10:25 TEV, emphasis mine).
He fights for us. He steps into the ring and points us to our corner and takes over. “Remain calm; the L>ORD will fight for you” (Exod. 14:14).
We must be patient, but not so much that we don’t yearn. We must be eager, but not so much that we don’t wait.
