Max Lucado Daily Devotional

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness…” As we behold him, we become like him.

It’s a principle I experienced first-hand when an opera singer visited our church. He sat right behind me. He tried to contain himself, but how can a tuba hide in a room of piccolos? I was startled. Inspired. Emboldened by his volume. I lifted mine. Did I sing better? No. But did I try harder? No doubt. His power brought the best of me.

Could your world use a little music? If so, invite heaven’s baritone—Jesus Christ—to cut loose. Who knows? A few songs with him might change the way you sing!

Read more Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

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Do you visit the Grand Canyon for the T-shirt or the snow globe? No. The reward of the Grand Canyon is the Grand Canyon. The wide-eyed realization you’re part of something ancient, splendid, powerful and greater than you.

The cache of Christianity is Christ. Not money in the bank or a car in the garage or a better self-image. The Fort Knox of faith is Christ. Fellowship with him. Walking with him. Pondering him. The heart-stopping realization that in him you’re part of something endless, unstoppable, unfathomable! And that he, who can dig the Grand Canyon with his pinkie, thinks you’re worth his death on Roman timber. Christ is the reward of Christianity.

Read more Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

“Who do you say I am?” Jesus asks of Peter. “I, uh, I believe…um, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Maybe he wasn’t that hesitant. But if he was, you can hardly fault him. How many times do you call a callous-handed nail bender from a one-camel town the Son of God?

You remember the drawings with the question, “What’s wrong with this picture?” We’d look closely for something that didn’t fit—like an astronaut on the moon with a pay phone in the background. Pay phones aren’t found on the moon, and God doesn’t chum with common folk or snooze in fishing boats. But Colossians 2:9 says he did: “For in Christ there is all of God in a human body.” All God, all man. Don’t we need a God-man Savior?

Read more No Wonder They Call Him Savior: Experiencing the Truth of the Cross

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Some days never come. Go to the effort. Invest the time. Make the apology. Take the trip. Do it! The seized opportunity renders joy. The neglected brings regret.

Remember Mary’s extravagance in pouring expensive perfume over Jesus’ head? And Jesus’ disciples criticizing her. “Why waste that perfume?” they said. “It could have been sold for a great deal of money and given to the poor” (Matthew 26:8-9). Do not miss Jesus’ prompt defense of Mary in Matthew 26:10: “Why are you troubling this woman?” he said. “She did an excellent thing for me.”

Don’t miss Jesus’ message. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. When the time comes, seize it!

Read more Cast of Characters: Lost and Found

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On the wall of a concentration camp, a prisoner carved the following words:

I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine.

What hand could have cut such a conviction? What eyes could have seen good in such horror? There’s only one answer: eyes that chose to see the unseen. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NCV), “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will only last a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.” We can see either the hurt or the Healer.

Mark it down. God knows you and I are blind. He knows living by faith and not by sight doesn’t come naturally. He will help us. Accept his help. Either live by the facts or see by faith!

Read more Cast of Characters: Lost and Found

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You are valuable just because you exist! Remember that the next time some trickster tries to hang a bargain basement price tag on your self-worth. Just think about the way Jesus honors you, and smile. I do. I smile because I know I don’t deserve love like that. None of us do. When you get right down to it, any contribution any of us makes is pretty puny. All of us, even the purest of us, deserve heaven about as much as that crook on the cross did.

It makes me smile to think there’s a grinning thief walking the golden streets of heaven who knows more about grace than a thousand theologians. No one else would have given the thief on the cross a prayer. But in the end, that is all he had. And in the end, that’s all it took. No wonder they call Jesus a Savior.

Read more Cast of Characters: Lost and Found

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Value is now measured by two criteria: appearance and performance. Where does that leave the ugly or uneducated? What hope does that offer the unborn child? The aged? The handicapped? Not much at all. We become nameless numbers on mislaid lists. This is man’s value system, but not God’s. His plan is much brighter. In God’s book man is heading somewhere. He has an amazing destiny. We’re being prepared to walk down the church aisle and become the bride of Christ. We’re going to live with him, share the throne with him. We count. We’re valuable.

Jesus’ love does not depend on what we do for him. If there was anything that Jesus wanted everyone to understand it was this: a person is worth something simply because he is a person. That’s why Jesus treated people the way he did. You have value simply because you are! You are His.

Read more Cast of Characters: Lost and Found

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Maybe your past isn’t much to brag about. Maybe you’ve seen raw evil, and now you have to make a choice. Do you rise above the past and make a difference? Or do you remain controlled by the past and make excuses?

Healthy bodies, sharp minds, but retired dreams. Back and forth they rock in the chair of regret. Lean closely and you’ll hear them. If only I’d been born somewhere else… If only I’d been treated fairly… If only I’d had more opportunities… 

Put down the scrapbook of your life and pick up the Bible. Read Jesus’ words in John 3:6 (NCV): “Human life comes from human parents but spiritual life comes from the Spirit.” God has not left you adrift on a sea of heredity. You have a choice in the path you take. Choose well!

Read more Cast of Characters: Lost and Found

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Grace defines you! Society labels you like a can on an assembly line: stupid, unproductive. But as grace infiltrates, criticism disintegrates. You know you aren’t who they say you are. You are who God says you are: spiritually alive, heavenly positioned, seated with him in the heavenly realms, one with Jesus Christ!

Of course, not all labels are negative. Some people regard you as clever, successful. But it doesn’t compare with being seated with him in the heavenly realms! You see, God creates the Christian’s resume. Grace defines who you are. The parent you can’t please is just as mistaken as the doting uncle you can’t disappoint. People hold no clout. Only God does.

Listen, God wrote your story. He cast you in his drama. You hang as God’s work of art, a testimony in his gallery of grace. According to him, you are his. Period.

Read more Cast of Characters: Lost and Found

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The power of a godly touch. Have you known it? The doctor who treated you or the teacher who dried your tears? Was there a hand holding yours at a funeral? Haven’t we known the power of a godly touch? Can’t we offer the same? Some of you use your hands to pray for the sick. If you aren’t touching them personally, you’re writing notes, calling, baking pies. You’ve learned the power of a touch.

But others tend to forget. Our hearts are good; it’s just that our memories are bad. We forget how significant one touch can be. We fear saying the wrong thing, or using the wrong tone, or acting the wrong way. So rather than do it incorrectly, we do nothing at all. Aren’t we glad Jesus didn’t make the same mistake? Jesus touched the untouchables of the world. Will you do the same? 

Read more Cast of Characters: Lost and Found

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.