Max Lucado has a one-of-a-kind writing style that is so engaging and encouraging. You! is a book that is a perfect topic for this type of writing style, because Max discusses a one-of-a-kind topic—you!
Max says, “God made you you-nique.” No one could have said that any better!
You! is a collection of Max’s writings from 15+ books. It’s really cool to see the familiar theme that runs consistently through all of his work. Whether Max is writing about the birth of Jesus, or Christ’s death on Calvary, or the challenges we face in our every-day life, or why God is worthy of our worship, it’s clear to see that God made you YOU on purpose. He made you one-of-a-kind, and He loves what He’s made!
This is a great book to read when you need a little pick-me-up, but it would also be a timely encouragement to someone who is questioning their purpose in life. Let Max Lucado speak in his one-of-a-kind style about the one-of-a-kind creation God made of your life!
I have been trumpeting this truth: God is for you! He’s not looking for opportunities to blast you, but to bless you. God wants you to know that you have found His favor.
But what happens if we sin? Do we lose God’s favor? In a word—NO!
Here’s what happens instead: God becomes our Prodigal Father.
Let me show you from both the Old Testament and the New Testament what I mean, but first, let’s define prodigal: it means recklessly extravagant or lavishly abundant. This is always how God treats His children.
In Isaiah 59, the prophet reminds us that nothing about God’s strength or ability to respond to our pleas has been diminished. Instead: your sins have separated you from your God—we can leave God, but He never leaves us!
Isaiah catalogs all our sins that have become a quicksand trap for us. God looks to see who can help us, and finding no one, here’s what He does: so His own arm worked salvation for Him, and His own righteousness sustained Him.
God did what was underserved. God did what no one else could do: HE HIMSELF BECAME OUR SALVATION!
If ever there was a definition of recklessly extravagant, lavishly abundant love… this is it!!
In Luke 15, Jesus tells a story that people often call the story of the prodigal son, but it’s really the father who is prodigal. The son squanders all his father’s blessings on wild living and finds himself bankrupt, starving, and completely disgraced. But the moment the son came to his senses and began to move toward his father by confessing his sin, his prodigal father ran to him!
Jesus tells us this father was overflowing with compassion. There wasn’t anything his son could have done to diminish the father’s love, nor was there anything the son could have done to make his father love him more. The father was all-loving all the time. He was recklessly extravagant and lavishly abundant in his love.
The father RAN to his son and covered his son’s disheveled, stinking rags with his royal robe.
This is exactly what Isaiah said God would do for us…
instead of ashes, we get a crown
instead of rags of mourning, we get an anointing of gladness
instead of a spirit of despair, we get a garment of praise
instead of shame, we get a double portion of God’s riches
instead of disgrace, we get God’s inheritance
How does all this happen? Our Prodigal Father abundantly, lavishly “clothes me with garments of salvation and arrays me in a robe of righteousness”!!
Don’t ever buy into satan’s lies that God loves you less, or that you’ve used up your changes, or that your sins are too many or too big. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Join me this coming Sunday either in person or on Facebook Live as we learn more about God’s favor toward us.
I love the wisdom that was constantly flowing from Billy Graham! Before you read these quotes, check out my review of Life Wisdom From Billy Graham by clicking here.
“God will not reject a heart that’s broken and sorry for sin. He’s not waiting to condemn you, to judge you. He’s waiting to kiss you and say, ‘I love you.’”
“Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.”
“God measures people by the small dimensions of humility and not by the bigness of their achievements or the size of their capabilities.”
“In God’s economy, a person must go down into the valley of grief before he or she can scale the heights of spiritual glory…. One must come to the end of ‘self’ before one can really begin to live.”
“Everybody needs some friends around him who will say, ‘You are wrong!’ And that includes me. I really value the friendship of people who will just tell it to me like it is, even though I may try to defend my position for a while.”
“Racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, or hatred of anyone with different beliefs has no place in the human mind or heart. I urge all people to examine themselves and renew their own hearts before God. Only the supernatural love of God through changed lives can solve the problems that we face in our world.”
“All of us in Christian ministry need to live and work with integrity. By integrity, I mean the moral value that makes people the same on the inside as they are on the outside—with no discrepancy between what they say and what they do, between their walk and their talk.”
“The social needs of man call for our urgent attention, but we believe that ultimately, these needs can be met only in and through the gospel. Man’s basic need is to be born from above—to be converted to Christ. Man must be changed. Man’s biggest problem is man himself.”
“In a world of greed, where materialistic values often take first place, pleasure has become a god—and a great premium is placed on cleverness—our greatest need is moral integrity.”
“Government will never be better than the men and women who have given their lives to it.”
“God’s name marks Him out; by it will we address Him; it embodies His character. … This name that is written all over the Bible, but specially exhibited in Christ Jesus, Who came to declare to us the Father’s name, is a name—
Of greatness. Jehovah, God, Creator, El-Shaddai; all expressive of majesty and power and glory. The Lord God omnipotent.
Of grace. It is the declaration of free love. Merciful and gracious. He to whom it belongs must be the fountain-head of love. God is love. In Him is infinity of compassion and longsuffering.
Of forgiveness. He pardons iniquity, transgression, and sin; all sin, great and small; there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared; forgiveness to the uttermost.
Of righteousness and holiness. It is holy love that is to be found in Him; righteous grace to the unrighteous; righteous pardon to the guilty.” —Horatius Bonar, in Light & Truth—The Old Testament
What if I were to tell you that God wants to bless you?
What if I were to tell you that God’s favor is constantly pursuing you?
Well, here’s me telling you that it’s all true!
“Since God did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else?” (Romans 8:32).
Why would God do this? Because if you feel distant from Him, how can you glorify Him? If you feel disconnected from His love, how will you draw others to Him? If you feel like your relationship with Him is hanging by a thread, how can you happily abide in His presence?
Knowing God’s favor is the key to living the abundant life Jesus purchased for you on the Cross!
Join me this Sunday as we begin a new series exploring the wonderful depths of God’s favor. You can join me in person at Calvary Assembly of God, or tune in on Facebook Live at 10:30am Sunday morning.
If you missed any of the messages in this series, you can catch up here:
“Want to know the coolest thing about the Incarnation? Not that the One who played marbles with the stars gave it up to play marbles with marbles. Or that the One who hung the galaxies gave it up to hang doorjambs to the displeasure of a cranky client who wanted everything yesterday but couldn’t pay for anything until tomorrow. Not that He, in an instant, went from needing nothing to needing air, food, a tub of hot water and salts for His tired feet, and, more than anything, needing somebody—anybody—who was more concerned about where He would spend eternity than where He would spend Friday’s paycheck. Or that He resisted the urge to fry the two-bit, self-appointed hall monitors of holiness who dared suggest that He was doing the work of the devil. Not that He kept His cool while the dozen best friends He ever had felt the heat and got out of the kitchen. Or that He gave no command to the angels who begged, ‘Just give the nod, Lord. One word and these demons will be deviled eggs.’ Not that He refused to defend Himself when blamed for every sin of every slut and sailor since Adam. Or that He stood silent as a million guilty verdicts echoed in the tribunal of heaven and the Giver of light was left in the chill of a sinner’s night. Not even that after three days in a dark hole He stepped into the Easter sunrise with a smile and a swagger and a question for lowly Lucifer—‘Is that your best punch?’ That was cool, incredibly cool. But the coolest thing about the One who gave up the crown of heaven for a crown of thorns: He did it for you. Just for you.” —Max Lucado, On Calvary’s Hill
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Isaiah 1
[These are notes from Oswald Chambers’ lecture on Isaiah 1.]
There is no such thing as fate; a human being always has the power to do the incalculable thing. There are fatal issues, not fate. When God’s decrees come to pass it is because men will not turn. God’s will is supreme, but God never fights against us; it is self-will that fights against God. …
If God were love according to our natural view of love He ought never to cause us pain, He ought to allow us to be peaceful; but the first thing God does is to cause us pain and to rouse us wide awake. He comes into our lives all along with ideals and truths which annoy and sting us and break up our rest, until He brings us to the one point, that it is only moral and spiritual relationships which last. That is why God looks cruel judged from the human sentimental standpoint; He loves us so much that He will not prevent us being hurt. …
Many a life is paralyzed because this is not realized—“I know God has forgiven me, I know I am right with God, but every now and again I remember the things I did that damaged other lives.” If I put the wrong right with my fellow men, have I become right with God? No, get right with God and He will put you on the way to be right with your fellow men.
From Notes On Isaiah
Isaiah 1 opens with God taking His people to task for merely going through the motions of worship, with their hearts being far away from Him. Chambers reminds us that this self-will that fights against God will often bring its own pain. Why? Because God loves us too much to let us go unmolested down the path to eternal destruction. Instead, God longs for us to turn our hearts unreservedly to His love and purpose for our lives.
“The devil would like us to believe that we are in a losing battle; nothing of the sort! We are ‘more than conquerors,’ hilariously more than victors, ‘through Him that loved us’ [Romans 8:31-37].
“No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God in a human spirit; it is an inner unconquerableness. If you have the whine in you take it out ruthlessly. It is a positive crime to be weak in God’s strength.” —Oswald Chambers, in Run Today’s Race
Max Lucado has a one-of-a-kind writing style that is so engaging and encouraging. You! is a book that is a perfect topic for this type of writing style, because Max discusses a one-of-a-kind topic—you! 
Craig T. Owens 