Max Lucado: February 2009 Archives

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007).

Introduction

The story of Jesus reads a bit like a scrapbook. Headline clippings. Newspaper photos. Jesus's favorite stories and lesson outlines. Here's Luke's snapshot of Jesus riding in Peter's boat. Matthew took this group photo when the seventy followers met for a party after the first mission trip. (Jesus is the one seated cross-legged in the center of the first row, smiling like his troop captured the Boy Scout Jamboree trophy.) John pasted a wedding napkin from Cana in the book as well as a funeral program from Bethany. He was the contributor who lamented, "There are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them, one by one, I can't imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books" (John 21:25 MSG).

Flipping through the scrapbook leaves the reader with this impression: Jesus was, at once, common and not; alternately normal and heroic. One minute blending in with the domino players in the park, the next commanding the hell out of madmen, disease out of the dying, and death out of the dead. He conversed with kids and fishermen yet spoke with equal ease to waves, wind gusts, and demons. Who was this man?

No question matters more. I've collected a few scrapbook entries to help us find an answer. Having dedicated "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" to the deep drilling of one of Jesus's statements, I want us to conclude with a flyby read of his entire life. Consider reading one entry a day, from the Bethlehem manger to the vacated tomb. Keep in mind that the final entries are yet to come, including the snapshot of you and your Savior at heaven's gateway.

--Max Lucado

From 3:16: The Numbers of Hope, by Max Lucado (2007). Used with permission of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 7 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the first day, stay subscribed to this feed to start over at the end of the week.

DAY 7--GOOD-BYE, NAZARETH

"Jesus went into Galilee,
proclaiming the good news of God."
--Mark 1:14

Jesus's obedience began in a small town carpentry shop. His uncommon approach to his common life groomed him for his uncommon call. "When Jesus entered public life he was about thirty years old" (Luke 3:23 MSG). In order to enter public life, you have to leave private life. In order for Jesus to change the world, he had to say good-bye to his world.

He had to give Mary a kiss. Have a final meal in the kitchen, a final walk through the streets. Did he ascend one of the hills of Nazareth and think of the day he would ascend the hill near Jerusalem?

He knew what was going to happen. "God chose him for this purpose long before the world began" (1 Pet. 1:20 NLT). Every ounce of suffering had been scripted--it just fell to him to play the part.

Not that he had to. Nazareth was a cozy town. Why not build a carpentry business? Keep his identity a secret? Return in the era of guillotines or electric chairs, and pass on the cross. To be forced to die is one thing, but to willingly take up your own cross
is something else.

I wonder, what kind of love is this? When you come up with a word for such a love, give it to Christ. For the day he left Nazareth is the day he declared his devotion for you and me. According to Peter, our lives were a "dead-end, empty-headed" (1 Pet. 1:18 MSG). But God, "immense in mercy and with an incredible love . . . embraced us" (Eph. 2:4 MSG).

Jesus left Nazareth and brought us to life.

--Max Lucado

From 3:16: The Numbers of Hope, by Max Lucado (2007). Used with permission of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 6 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this feed to start over at the end of the week.

DAY 6--CHICKENS, HAMMER, AND JESUS

"He's just a carpenter."
--Mark 6:3 (MSG)

Envision a dusty, quiet village. Nazareth. An unimpressive town in an unimpressive nation.
Ignore the nicer homes of the village. Joseph and Mary celebrated the birth of Jesus with a temple offering of two turtledoves, the gift of the poor (Luke 2:22-24). Go to the poorer part of town. Not poverty stricken or destitute, just simple.

And look for a single mom. The absence of Joseph in the adult life of Jesus suggests that Mary may have raised him and the rest of the kids alone. We need a simple home with a single mom and an ordinary laborer. Jesus's neighbors remembered him as a worker. "He's just a carpenter." (Mark 6:3 MSG).

Jesus had dirty hands, sweat-stained shirts, and--this may surprise you--common looks. "No stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him" (Isa. 53:2 NASB).

Raised in an overlooked nation among oppressed people in an obscure village. Can you spot him? See the adobe house with the thatched roof? Yes, the one with the chickens in the yard and the gangly teenager repairing chairs in the shed.

"He had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people's sins, he would have already experienced it all himself--all the pain, all the testing--and would be able to help where help was needed" (Heb. 2:17-18 MSG).

Why would heaven's finest Son endure earth's toughest pain? So you would know that he knows how you feel.

--Max Lucado

From 3:16: The Numbers of Hope, by Max Lucado (2007). Used with permission of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 5 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this feed to start over at the end of the week.

DAY 5--JESUS GOES HOME FIRST

"And the child grew and became strong;
he was filled with wisdom,
and the grace of God was upon him."
--Luke 2:40

When do we get our first clue that Jesus knows he is the Son of God? In the temple of Jerusalem. He is twelve years old. His parents are three days into the return trip to Nazareth before they notice he is missing.

The temple is the last place they think to search. But it is the first place Jesus goes. He doesn't go to a cousin's house or a buddy's playground. Jesus seeks the place of godly thinking and, in doing so, inspires us to do the same. By the time Joseph and Mary locate their son, he has confounded the most learned men in the temple.

As a young boy, Jesus already senses the call of God. But what does he do next? Recruit apostles and preach sermons and perform miracles? No, he goes home to his folks and learns the family business.

That is exactly what you should do. Want to bring focus to your life? Do what Jesus did. Go home, love your family, and take care of business. But, Max, I want to be a missionary. Your first mission field is under your roof. What makes you think they'll believe you overseas if they don't believe you across the hall?

From 3:16: The Numbers of Hope, by Max Lucado (2007). Used with permission of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 4 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this feed to start over at the end of the week.

DAY 4--BECAUSE OF LOVE

"For God so loved the world that he gave
his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
--John 3:16

Would you do what Jesus did? He swapped a spotless castle for a grimy stable. He exchanged the worship of angels for the company of killers. He could hold the universe in his palm but gave it up to float in the womb of a maiden.

If you were God, would you sleep on straw, nurse from a breast, and be clothed in a diaper? I wouldn't, but Christ did.

If you knew that those you loved would laugh in your face, would you still care?... Christ did.
He humbled himself. He went from commanding angels to sleeping in the straw. From holding stars to clutching Mary's finger. The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier.

Why? Because that's what love does. It puts the beloved before itself.

Love goes the distance ... and Christ traveled from limitless eternity to be confined by time in order to become one of us. He didn't have to. He could have given up. At any step along the way, he could have called it quits.

When he saw the size of the womb, he could have stopped.

When he saw how tiny his hand would be, how soft his voice would be, how hungry his tummy would be, he could have stopped. At the first whiff of the stinky stable, at the first gust of cold air. The first time he scraped his knee or blew his nose or tasted burnt bagels, he could have turned and walked out.

When he saw the dirt floor of his Nazareth house. When Joseph gave him a chore to do. When his fellow students were dozing off during the reading of the Torah, his Torah. At any point Jesus could have said, "That's it! That's enough! I'm going home." But he didn't.

He didn't, because he is love.

--Max Lucado

From 3:16: The Numbers of Hope, by Max Lucado (2007). Used with permission of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 3 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 2 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the first day, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 1 of the week-long devotional. DAY 1: AN EXTRA-ORDINARY NIGHT "Suddenly a great company of...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). Introduction The story of Jesus reads a bit like a scrapbook. Headline clippings. Newspaper photos. Jesus's favorite stories...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 7 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the first day, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 6 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 5 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 4 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 3 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 2 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the first day, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 1 of the week-long devotional. DAY 1: AN EXTRA-ORDINARY NIGHT "Suddenly a great company of...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). Introduction The story of Jesus reads a bit like a scrapbook. Headline clippings. Newspaper photos. Jesus's favorite stories...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 7 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the first day, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 6 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 5 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 4 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 3 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 2 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the first day, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 1 of the week-long devotional. DAY 1: AN EXTRA-ORDINARY NIGHT "Suddenly a great company of...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). Introduction The story of Jesus reads a bit like a scrapbook. Headline clippings. Newspaper photos. Jesus's favorite stories...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 7 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the first day, stay subscribed to this...

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 6 of the week-long devotional. If you missed the previous days, stay subscribed to this...