MAX ON LIFE

14. How can I get free of the fear that God might not forgive me? I'm always afraid that I'm not perfect enough.

After we'd been in San Antonio only a short time, I decided I should buy a new jacket for Easter. Where we served in Brazil, no one wore coats and ties, so I didn't have many. Hence, I went to buy one. At the rack I realized I was standing next to a well-known citizen, Red McCombs. He owns car lots and at one time owned an NFL football team in Minnesota.

We exchanged greetings and niceties. He told me about his brother, a pastor. I told him how happy I was to be living in San Antonio. After a moment we returned to our shopping. I selected a jacket, went to the cash register to pay for it, and was told these words by the salesman: "Your jacket has already been paid for. The man you were talking to covered your bill." My first thought was, Boy, I wish I'd picked out some slacks too.

Think about what happened to me. I was in debt. Then, all of a sudden, I found that my debt had been paid. I could deny the gift or accept it. The decision was easy. The gift giver had ample resources with which to pay for the coat. I had no reason to doubt his sincerity or ability.

Nor do you. God has ample ability to love and care for you.

Of course, what Jesus did on the cross was far greater than what Mr. McCombs did for me in the store. Jesus took our place. What if my benefactor had offered to trade places with me? Exchange financial statements with me? Swap fortunes with me? He would have inherited my debt, and I would have inherited his abundance.

Through Christ we inherit abundant mercy. Enough to cover a lifetime of mistakes. Jesus, in turn, took on severe poverty. While on the cross, he was robbed of everything - his health, his dignity, his friends, his strength, and, most of all, his God.

Once and for all, he proved his love.

By: Max Lucado

MAX ON LIFE

13. I know God has forgiven me for my past sins, but it's hard for me to forgive myself. I've terminated two pregnancies that happened out of wedlock. I used drugs for years and really messed up my life. God has redeemed me, but I still feel so ashamed for my actions.

Welcome to the Court of Shame. Look around. See anyone you know? Recognize that judge in the long black robe? It's you. In fact, the prosecutor looks pretty familiar. You again, this time wearing a nice Italian suit. Glance over to the jury. Yep. Twelve of you all giving you the evil eye and saying, "Guilty".

When it comes to shame, we are our harshest judges.

Sometimes it's public.

Always it's painful.

After hearing the heart of the adulterous woman, Jesus declared, "I also don't judge you guilty. You may go now, but don't sin anymore" (John 8:11). If Jesus judged her and found her not guilty, what do you think he says about you?

At times like this, you must ask yourself a question: who makes a better judge - you or Jesus?

We make poor judges. Marred by hurt and humiliation, we don't see the situation clearly. We listen too much to the voices that got us into this mess. The abuser still abuses our self-esteem. We allow the molester to still molest our soul. Our judgments are limited.

Jesus knows the situation inside and out. He sees from every perspective and feels all the pain. He knows when lines were crossed and when motives were just. Jesus is the best judge.

So when he says, "I don't judge you guilty", that verdict is based not on a whim but on a careful examination of all the hearts, all the guilt, and all the genuine repentance.

Jesus says he no longer holds any wrong against you.

So if Jesus declares you not guilty, then who keeps whispering guilt in your ears?

Who do you think?

By: Max Lucado

MAX ON LIFE

12. I spent several years of my life away from God. I became a Christian as a youngster, but when I was a teenager, I quit going to church and reading my Bible. I stopped praying to God and obeying him. During that time, was I saved?

Really good question. One that has caused many good Bible students to stay up late at night seeking answers. Here are the ideas that make the most sense to me.

Jesus guarantees the protection of his sheep. Not only does he know them by name, but he says, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28). "No one" means no one. God gives those who trust him "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade" (1 Peter 1:4). They are "kept by Jesus" (Jude 1) and "shielded by God's power" (1 Peter 1:5). God is able to "keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy" (Jude 24). If he is able to keep us from falling, wouldn't he? He is "not wishing for any to perish" (2 Peter 3:9).

Salvation is not repeatable. Salvation is not a repeated phenomenon. Scripture contains no example of a person who was saved, then lost, then resaved, then lost again. On-and-off never appears in the Bible.

Family ties sustain us. Once we believe, we are adopted into the family of God. "We are children of God" (Rom 8:16). After being placed in a family, we are always in the family. Communion between parent and child may suffer, but the tie remains. By sinning we may step out of the will of God, but we will never step out of the family of God.

Persistent sin shows lack (not loss) of conversion. John taught that those who withdrew from the community were never saved in the first place. "They went on from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us" (1 John 2:19).

God disciplines disobedient children, but he does not disinherit them (Heb 12:5). The presence of sin does not imply loss of position. Paul claimed to be the chief of sinners: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all" (1 Tim 1:15). He did not say, "I was". Paul still sinned but never doubted his salvation. He taught the difference between "position" and "practice". We can be positionally secure while our practice reflects otherwise. The Corinthian church was positionally a sanctified church, but practically its members appeared like people of the world (1 Cor 3:1).

If works are needed to retain salvation, then salvation is achieved by works. Would God start salvation and turn it over to us to complete it? No. He is the "author and finisher of our faith" (Heb 12:2). To say he is anything else places an unbearable burden on the Christian.

If salvation can be lost through sin, then all are at times lost, because all sin. Salvation, then, becomes a matter of timing. We can only hope God will snatch us into heaven during a saved season. If salvation is forfeitable because of unbelief, aren't we all lost? Who has perfect belief? Worriers don't. The fearful don't. If perfect belief qualifies the saved, who qualifies?

In the end, the great discovery is this: what initially saves you, eternally keeps you. During your years away from God, you lost much: you lost joy, peace and opportunities to glorify God. But you did not lose your place in heaven.

By: Max Lucado

MAX ON LIFE

11. I've been having terrible doubts about my salvation, which is causing me great anxiety. I know the doubts come from Satan, and I've prayed and asked God for assurance. But how can I know that I am truly saved?

According to the Bible, it is possible to "know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

How do we know that? "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom 10:9).

First, confess that Jesus is Lord. Say it out loud our quietly in your heart - either way. Just mean it.

Then believe that Jesus was resurrected. He's not a man in the grave but God in the flesh with the power over death.

Confess and believe..... and you will have salvation.

Catch what Romans 10:9 does not say - live perfectly, be nice to everyone, don't mess up, don't doubt, always smile.... and you will be saved. Can't do it. Impossible.

Just confess and believe. Salvation will follow.

It's so easy... yet so hard.

God wants us to know we are saved, for saved people are dangerous people, willing to face off with the world, unafraid of the consequences since they know that, whatever happens, they will have eternal life.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1). Watch out, world!

By: Max Lucado

MAX ON LIFE

10. Every Easter our family has the same argument: Did Jesus come back from the dead? My dad calls the resurrection a fable, I disagree. How can we know?

No one questions the existence of Jesus. Historically, he lived; he preached; he stirred a following and then was killed. No one questions these facts.

And no one questions the existence of a resurrection story. They may not buy it, but they don't question it exists. Skeptics may chalk it up as a legend or hoax, but everyone believes that the early followers proclaimed that Jesus was raised from the dead.

So the remaining question is this one: "Is the tomb empty?"

There are those who say he never died. Instead, they say a soldier mistakenly lowered his body from the cross, and those who loved him mistakenly put him in the tomb. Honestly. After a whipping that could have killed him, after six hours on the cross, after a spear in his side, could this frail and beaten Jesus spend two nights in a tomb and, on the third day, shove back the rock, overpower the soldiers, and encounter the disciples with such vigor that they believed he was raised from the dead? I don't think so.

Some teach that Jesus' body was stolen by his enemies, the religious leaders of Jerusalem. If so, why didn't they produce it? They cold have killed Christianity in its cradle! But they didn't. There are those who say the disciples took the body. Maybe the followers of Jesus staged the resurrection. There is only one problem: the disciples spent the rest of their lives proclaiming the resurrection. Some died for their belief. One might die for a truth, but one will never die for a lie.

What is left? The empty tomb is left.

You don't have to toss common sense out the door to embrace the resurrection of Jesus. In fact, it's just as challenging, or more so, to disprove the resurrection as to prove it.

By: Max Lucado

MAX ON LIFE

9. When my husband and I became the parents of a baby girl, we started to attend Church. The pastor and others here talk about being saved, but we really don't understand what that means. Can you help us?

The best answer to your question is found in the Bible's best-known scripture:

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)

Why does God want to save us? "God so loved...." What parents can stand idly by while their child suffers in agony? Who would watch loved ones step toward a perilous pit and not stop them before they plunged into darkness? God loves us so much he wants to save us.... from the world, from Satan, from ourselves. The motivation that drives all his actions is love.... love.... love.... love. And his love is directed at you.

How does God save us? He gave his one and only Son....." A payment satisfies a debt. A gift appeases anger. A sacrifice dies in place of the guilty party. God saves us by offering his own sacrifice - his own Son - to pay for our massive debt of sin, to satisfy his immense anger toward our rebellion, and to relieve the burden of our guilt. Only one sacrifice was worthy enough to die for all the sins of all the people of all time. Jesus. He died as a sinless and perfect sacrifice on the cross.

What do we need to do to be saved? "Whoever believes in him...." The debt is too big to pay. Working ourselves to death wouldn't be enough. So Jesus, out of love, did all the work for us two thousand years ago on a cross outside the walls of Jerusalem. What must we do? Believe. Believe that Jesus died for you and me. Know that God is satisfied and our sin bill has been paid in full.

What will happen as a result of salvation? "Have eternal life." Jesus' death on the cross paid for our sins. Jesus' resurrection from the tomb promises our eternal life. We are no longer stuck on death row. We will be set free to enjoy life eternal with our Savior himself.

God saves us because he loves us.

God saves us through Jesus Christ.

God saves us when we believe.

God saves us from death.

The only question John 3:16 does not answer is, what about you? Have you been saved?

By: Max Lucado

MAX ON LIFE

8. What is the purpose of confession? Doesn't God already know what I've done? Why does he need me to tell him?

The Greek word for confession is the compound term homologeo, homo meaning "the same" and logeo meaning "to speak". To confess is to speak the same, to agree with. In this case, to agree with God.

This definition not only tells us what confession is; it tells us what confession is not. Confession is not complaining. If I merely recite my problems and tell you how tough my life is, I'm not confessing.

Confession is not blaming. Pointing fingers at others without pointing any at my self may feel good for a while, but it does nothing to remove the conflict within me.

Confession is coming clean with God.

King David did. As if the affair with Bathsheba wasn't enough. As if the murder of her husband wasn't enough. Somehow David danced around the truth. He denied his wrongdoing for at least nine months until the child was born. It took a prophet to bring the truth to the surface, but when he did, David didn't like what he saw (2 Sam 11:1-12:13).

He waved the white flag. No more combat with God. No more arguing with heaven. He confessed. He came clean with God. What was the result of such honesty?

I confessed all my sins to you

and stopped trying to hide my guilt.

I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord".

and you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. (Ps 32:5)

Want to get rid of your guilt? Come clean with God.

By: Max Lucado