Complacent to God

We’re complacent to God. Churchgoers pack the pews and sing to the back of someone’s head. Fellowship is lost in formality. One, two, three times a week people pay their dues by walking in the door, enduring a ritual, and walking out. Guilt is appeased. God is insulted. Are we so naive as to think that he needs our attendance? Are we so ignorant that we put God in a box, thinking he can be taken in and out at our convenience?

Max Lucado, On the Anvil, p. 26, Tyndale 1985

Credit God

Everything comes from God alone. “Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory” (Rom. 11:36). The breath you just took? God gave that. The blood that just pulsed through your heart? Credit God. The light by which you read and the brain with which you process? He gave both.
Everything comes from him . . . and exists for him. We exist to exhibit God, to display his glory. We serve as canvases for his brush stroke, papers for his pen, soil for his seeds, glimpses of his image.

Cure For The Common Life – Max Lucado

Have You Ever Wondered?

Have you ever wondered why God gives so much? We could exist on far less. He could have left the world flat and grey; we wouldn’t have known the difference. But he didn’t. He splashed orange in the sunrise and cast the sky in blue. And if you love to see geese as they gather, chances are you’ll see that too. Did he have to make the squirrel’s tail furry? Was he obliged to make the birds sing? And the funny way that chickens scurry or the majesty of thunder when it rings? Why give a flower fragrance? Why give food its taste? Could it be he loves to see that look upon your face?

Max Lucado - He Chose the Nails

Deepest longing

Contentment is a difficult virtue. Why? Because there is nothing on earth that can satisfy our deepest longing. We long to see God. The leaves of life are rustling with the rumor that we will and we won't be satisfied until we do.

Credit where credit is due: beautiful quote © Max Lucado When God Whispers Your Name - stunning picture made by © Frea - Max, Frea, You & Me and Hydrangea leaves - made by Awesome © God.

Not without you

On the eve of the cross, Jesus made his decision. He would rather go to hell for you than go to heaven without you.
(Max Lucado, And the Angels Were Silent - Source picture)
Satan dares to enter yet another garden, but God stands and Satan hasn't a prayer...
(Max Lucado, A Gentle Thunder)

Beatitudes, as redefined by Max Lucado

God promises sacred delight. And he promises it to an unlikely crowd:
"The poor in spirit" - beggars in God's soup kitchen.
"Those who mourn" - sinners anonymous bound together by the truth of their introduction: "Hi, I am me. I'm a sinner."
"The merciful" - winners of the million-dollar lottery who share the prize with their enemies.
"The pure in heart" - physicians who love lepers and escape infection.
"The peacemakers" - architects who build bridges with wood from a Roman cross.
"The persecuted"- those who manage to keep an eye on heaven while walking through hell on earth.
It is a band of pilgrims that God promises a special blessing. A heavenly joy. A sacred delight.
(Max Lucado, The Applause of Heaven)