There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes - seize it, don't miss it.
Max LucadoI think I could do better in my approach to application. I think I could do better in preaching practical sermons.
Max LucadoI think there is, not in the sense that I enjoy it, but that it's an important question. It's the question, "Does the presence of pain mean God doesn't care? Does God not love me anymore?" I think that's a very common connection we tend to make. I see that a lot in my own life and in the lives of others.
Max LucadoNo place is too common. No person is too hardened. No distance is too far. There's no person God cannot reach. There's no limit to his love.
Max LucadoYou may go days without thinking of God, but there's never a moment when He's not thinking of you.
Max LucadoI think that the Holy Spirit works through the pastors of the church. It helps me avoid the trap of writing to the reading market. It helps me stay a pastor first, because they have no agenda; they are not thinking: "This would this be a good book someday." They're thinking: "How this will help Bob and Suzy who are going through a tough marriage? What series can encourage them?" And so I really bow to their preference.
Max LucadoBeing religious without knowing the cross is like owning a Mercedes with no motor. Pretty package, but where is your power?
Max LucadoFrom my perspective, most of my life has been dealing with the day-to-day, kitchen-to-bedroom-to-living-room-to-garage life with people. Most people are just trying to figure out how to love the people in their world, to love their God and to deal with some of these questions about God.
Max LucadoTo be active in a church social life or church activities or even a church mission to help the hungry or reach the poor, but really our dedication has to be born out of an infatuation with Jesus.
Max LucadoWorry is irrelevant. It alters nothing. When was the last time you solved a problem by worrying about it?
Max LucadoWaiting is an expectant patience. It's a patience that says, "I don't know what God is going to do, but I know God is going to do something."
Max LucadoI know what I'll be preaching in the spring, what I'll be preaching in the summer, and what I'll be preaching next fall.
Max LucadoDon't see yourself as a product of your parents DNA, but rather as a brand new idea from heaven.
Max LucadoYou cover 50 yards on the playing field of faith with a story that downplays your success. You cover 3 yards, or you may even end up backward, with anything that up-plays or promotes you.
Max LucadoI believe a personal relationship with God is healthy, but organized religion has potential for danger, in whatever faith.
Max LucadoGgrace is God's best idea - it's His decision to ravage people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly.
Max LucadoYou see, it's one thing to accept Him as Lord, another to recognize Him as Savior - but it's another matter entirely to accept Him as Father.
Max LucadoIf there are a thousand steps between us and God, He will take all but one. He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours.
Max LucadoYou are valuable because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done - but simply because you are.
Max LucadoSome people find the gift of salvation. For others the gifts are smaller: a kind word, a good deed. But all the gifts are from God.
Max LucadoI think what happens is that we're so busy as pastors that we never get around to trying to turn that material into a book. It's a shame because there is so much good material out there that needs to be published.
Max LucadoI could easily go through all my books and mark the ones that were original, mark the ones that were adapted or pre-published that I've found. I'm guessing though that probably 75% of them are personal events. I just love a personal story.
Max LucadoThe presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional. Anxiety is not a sin; it's an emotion. So don't be anxious about feeling anxious. Anxiety can, however, lead to sinful behavior. When we numb our fears with six-packs or food binges, when we spew anger like Krakatau, when we peddle our fears to anyone who will buy them, we're sinning.
Max LucadoDiscover this mystery: as you help others face their days, you put life into your own. And life is exactly what many people need.
Max LucadoIf you get a lot of good feedback from people, thats a sign that you have a strength or gift in writing, if not ... try singing.
Max LucadoIf God was willing to wrap himself in rags and drink from a mother's breast, then all questions about his love for us are off the table.
Max LucadoGod knows just the place where you'll be placed. He has a barren living room in desperate need of warmth and joy. A corner of the world needs some color. He selected you with that place in mind.
Max LucadoThe temptation is for us to share our own opinions, our own thoughts and to speak from the whole realm of possibility. We can't do that as pastors. We need to have a strong voice of conviction, and the way we can do that is through Scripture.
Max LucadoAt our church I do not endorse politicians publicly. Because I am afraid that if I endorse one candidate, it would keep somebody from coming to our church. So I made one exception one time to put one bumper sticker on my car, but I don't ever do it anymore.
Max LucadoThere is no religion like Christianity, it is not one religion among others, it is completely different, its mixing apples and oranges.
Max LucadoYou long for one true friend? You have one. And because you do, you have a choice. You can... ponder the malice of your monster or the kindness of your Christ.
Max LucadoTo have a pure heart, we must submit all thoughts to the authority of Christ. If we are willing to do that, he will change us to be like him.
Max LucadoThere was a time I wanted to go into politics. And so all of a sudden, here I am, I guess. I'm in the thick of it.
Max Lucado