Unshakable Hope: Building Our Lives on the Promises of God

by Max Lucado

The New Testament describes a progressive work of God to shape us into his image. As we fellowship with God, read his Word, obey his commands, and seek to understand and reflect his character, something wonderful emerges. Or, better stated, Someone wonderful emerges. God comes out of us. We say things God would say. We do things God would do. We forgive, we share, and we love. It is as if God is scrubbing the smudge off an old coin. In time an image begins to appear. God’s goal is simply this: to rub away anything that is not of him so the inborn image of God can be seen in us.

How much sadness would evaporate if every person simply chose to believe this: I was made for God’s glory and am being made into his image.

Your prayers matter to God because you matter to God.

Prayer is not the last resort; it is the first step.

I like the joke about the arrogant man who took God’s preeminence to task. He looked up into the heavens and declared, “I can do what you can do! I can create a person out of dust! I understand the systems of life and science!” God accepted the offer. “All right,” he told the buffoon. “Let’s see what you can do.” The man reached down and took a handful of dirt. But before the man could go further, God interrupted him. “I thought you said you could do what I did.” “I can.” “Then,” God instructed, “get your own dirt.”

Had Jesus simply descended to earth in the form of a mighty being, we would respect him but never would draw near to him. After all, how could God understand what it means to be human? Had Jesus been biologically conceived with two earthly parents, we would draw near to him, but would we want to worship him? After all, he would be no different than you and me. But if Jesus was both—God and man at the same time—then we have the best of both worlds. Neither his humanity nor deity compromised. He was fully human. He was fully divine. Because of the first, we draw near. Because of the latter, we worship.

He was born just as all babies are born. His childhood was a common one. “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). His body developed. His muscles strengthened. His bones matured. There is no evidence or suggestion that he was spared the inconveniences of adolescence. He may have been gangly or homely. He knew the pain of sore muscles and the sting of salt in an open wound. As an adult he was weary enough to sit down at a well (John 4:6) and sleepy enough to doze off in a rocking boat (Mark 4:35–38). He became hungry in the wilderness and thirsty on the cross. When the soldiers pounded the nails through his skin, a thousand nerve endings cried for relief. As he hung limp on the cross, two human lungs begged for oxygen. The Word became flesh. Does this promise matter? If you ever wonder if God understands you, it does. If you ever wonder if God listens, it does. If you ever wonder if the Uncreated Creator can, in a million years, comprehend the challenges you face, then ponder long and hard the promise of the incarnation. Jesus is “able to understand our weaknesses” (Heb. 4:15 NCV). The One who hears your prayers understands your pain.

So human he could touch his people. So mighty he could heal them. So human he spoke with an accent. So heavenly he spoke with authority. So human he could blend in unnoticed for thirty years. So mighty he could change history and be unforgotten for two thousand years. All man. Yet all God.

Because Jesus is human, he understands you. Because he is divine, he can help you.

Salvation, from beginning to end, is a work of our Father. God does not stand on a mountain and tell us to climb it and find him. He comes down into our dark valley and finds us. He does not offer to pay all the debt minus a dollar if we’ll pay the dollar. He pays every penny. He doesn’t offer to complete the work if we will start it. He does all the work, from beginning to end. He does not bargain with us, telling us to clean up our lives so he can help. He washes our sins without our help.

his resurrection is the preview and promise of ours.

As the Spirit has his way in the lives of believers, a transformation occurs. They begin to think the way God thinks, love the way God loves, and see the way God sees. They minister in power and pray in power and walk in power.

The Spirit of God also makes us holy. After all, is he not the Holy Spirit? One of his primary activities is to cleanse us from sin and to sanctify us for holy work.

Since no one can take your Christ, no one can take your hope.

Russell Kelso Carter learned this truth. He was a gifted athlete and student. In 1864 at the age of fifteen, during a prayer meeting he surrendered his life to Christ. He became an instructor at the Pennsylvania Military Academy in 1869. He led a diverse and fruitful life that included stints as a minister, medical doctor, and even a songwriter. But it was his understanding of God’s promises that makes his story relevant to us. By age thirty Carter had a critical heart condition and was on the brink of death. “Connie Ruth Christiansen writes: ‘He knelt and made a promise that healing or no, his life was finally and forever, consecrated to the service of the Lord.’ Christiansen goes on to say that from that moment on the Scripture took on new life for Carter and he began to lean on the promises that he found in the Bible. He committed himself to believe, whether or not God granted him healing. . . . Carter lived, with a healthy heart, for another 49 years.”2 His decision to trust God in the midst of difficulties gave birth to a hymn that is still sung today. Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Through eternal ages let His praises ring, Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God. Refrain: Standing, standing, Standing on the promises of God my Savior; Standing, standing, I’m standing on the promises of...