I Love Max Lucado

Girard, with all of his sophistication and insights into anthropology and human behavior....and with all the reading I've done on sacrifice and atonement.....pondering it, discussing it, dissecting it.....and all the blogs I have listed in my bloglines account that deal with complicated and deep theological issues, I've yet to come across anything or anyone who can so clearly give a glimpse of the love in the heart of our Father for us, his children, as Max Lucado. Granted, he does not see UR....and I am certain that he sees the atonement from a penal substitutionary standpoint....but time and time again his writings have touched me deeply at the place where I am, answering questions, giving inspiration and hope. I am a huge fan of Max Lucado.

One of the first Christian books I ever read was a book I found on the library shelf not too long after becoming a Christian. It was "He Still Moves Stones" by Max Lucado.

Max Lucado, in one of his books concerning evil and suffering, writes that he sees the whole concept as a scale......you know....one of those old fashioned kinds of scales with the weights on one side and the stuff you weigh on the other? I think they call them a pan scale? Well, on the one side are all the hurts and heartaches and trials and problems we experience and suffer through. Plunk goes the scale....and he does not remove any of the things that we have suffered....yet.....after this life is over.....this life the Bible compares to a wisp of vapor......he so loads down the other side of the scale with incomprehensible glory that it totally and completely outweighs the bad things.

In one of his books (can't remember which one) he recounts the story told by a college professor about one of his students, a blind boy with an invincible, can do attitude. They became friends and the professor told the student how impressed he was with his attitude in spite of his disability. "It wasn't always that way" the student said...and he proceeded to tell the story of how he lost his sight (I forgot the details but it was an accident) and how for months he moped around in his bedroom, bitter and angry, convinced his life was over. He demanded that his family wait on him hand and foot. Nothing could rouse him from the depression and misery he was wallowing in.

Finally one day his dad had all he could take. He knew that if his son did not snap out of his all consuming self pity his life was pretty much over. So as he left for work he told his son that when he came home that night he expected to find all the storm windows on the house....a job his son had done many times. The son was outraged!! How could a blind man put storm windows on....he thought to himself that he would show them and when they came home that evening, they would find him with a broken neck or other serious injury....having fallen from the ladder. But he set about the task....slowly, painstakingly going through the motions he remembered from having done the very same job many times. When the dad came home from work that night the storm windows were all installed. During the process, the son had the life changing revelation that his life was not over and that he could do anything he chose to do in spite of his blindness. It was a turning point. It was not until several years later that the son found out his dad hadn't gone to work that day. The whole day his dad has stood by silently, watching, in case his son got into a predicament that he could not get out of. Suffering with his son, wanting nothing more than to step in and help....but he knew that ultimately the greatest "help" would be in letting his son do it himself. He had never been more than a few feet away, even though the son was not aware of his presence. And so it is with God....

Another concept I always had a problem with was God's acknowledged pursuit of broadcasting his glory to the point of obsession (and conceit). Again, in a Max Lucado book, I found a reasonable explanation. Again, a word picture.


Dark, foggy night, at sea, explosion at sea, some survivors floating in the frigid waters....some with life jackets, some hanging onto debris. Through the night, in a lifeboat, comes the captain of the ship. He is shouting out loudly....calling out for survivors. He needs to shout so all will hear him and he can pull them from the water into the safety of the lifeboat. God needs to shout too. That is why his glory is so important to him....not for his sake....but for ours. So we see, so we know that he is a "strong captain that can pull us from the waters." It works for me. Prior to the reading of that story I could not help but think he was a bit on the conceited side. But alas...this word picture put things into perspective. Thanks Max.