Max Lucado Daily Devotional
Max Lucado
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Were your growing up years your hard years? Family pain is the deepest pain because it was inflicted so early. It involves people who should have been trustworthy. You were too young to process the mistreatment. You didn’t know how to defend yourself. Besides, the perpetrators of your pain were so large. Your dad, mom, uncle, big brother—they towered over you, usually in size, always in rank. When they judged you falsely, you believed them.
As a result, you’ve been operating on faulty data. “You’re stupid, slow, dumb like your daddy, fat like your momma.” Decades later, these voices of defeat still echo in our subconscious. But they don’t have to. Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” You are God’s child. His creation. You’ll get through this! You’re part of his family.
Read more You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
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My friend Rob cried freely telling his story about his young son’s challenging life. Daniel was born with a double cleft palate, dramatically disfiguring his face. He had surgery, but the evidence remains, so people constantly notice and occasionally make remarks. Daniel, however, is unfazed. He just tells people God made him this way so, what’s the big deal?
He was named student of the week and was asked to bring something to show his classmates for show and tell. Daniel told his mom he wanted to take the pictures that showed his face prior to the surgery. His mom was concerned. “Won’t that make you feel a bit funny?” she asked. But Daniel insisted, “Oh, no, I want everyone to see what God did for me!”
Try Daniel’s defiant joy and see what happens. God has handed you a cup of blessings. Sweeten it with a heaping spoonful of gratitude!
Read more You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.
God notices the grateful heart. He took a praise-singing shepherd boy and made him a king. There’s no hint of God getting out of sorts if we aren’t thankful, but there is evidence we’re affected by our own ingratitude. What of the disastrous days? The nights I can’t sleep and the hours I can’t rest. Are we still grateful then?
Jesus was. The Bible records, “On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24 NLT). It’s not often you see the words betrayed and thanks in the same sentence, much less in the same heart. In the midst of the darkest night of the human soul, Jesus found a way to give thanks. Anyone can thank God for the light. Jesus teaches us to thank God for the night. He says to us, “you’ll get through this!” And we will.
Read more You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.
If you feel the world owes you something, brace yourself – you’ll never get reimbursed. Henry Ward Beecher said, “A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” The sky’s never blue enough, the steak isn’t cooked enough, the universe isn’t good enough to deserve a human being like you.
Pursue gratitude. The grateful heart is like a magnet, sweeping over the day, collecting reasons for gratitude. Thank you, God. Your lungs inhale and exhale 11,000 liters of air every day. Thank you, God. For the jam on our toast, and the milk on our cereal, and the blanket that calms us, and the joke that softens us, and the warm sun that reminds us of God’s love. Gratitude leaves us looking at God and away from dread. It does to anxiety what morning sun does to valley mist. It burns it up! Thank you, God.
Read more You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.
Some things were not made to co-exist. Long-tailed cats and rocking chairs? Bad combination. Bulls in a china closet? Not a good idea. Blessings and bitterness? That’s the mixture that doesn’t go over well with God. Perhaps you’ve sampled it? Gratitude doesn’t come naturally. Self-pity does. Belly aches do. Yet they do not mix well with the kindness we’ve been given.
I attended a banquet where a soldier was presented with the gift of a free house. He nearly fell over with gratitude. He hugged the guitar player in the band, the woman on the front row. He thanked the waiter, the other soldiers. He even thanked me and I didn’t do anything! Shouldn’t we be equally thankful?
John 14:2 says God is building a house for us, and our deed of ownership is every bit as certain as that of the soldier. The grateful heart sees every day as a gift.
Read more You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.