Book Review: Outlive Your Life

Last night I had a few extra minutes to devote to reading, so I read Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado.  I read it in one sitting because it has such a powerful message.  I have been a longtime fan of Lucado and always look forward to reading his new books.  He has an real gift for helping readers see the application of Scripture.  I read my first Lucado book when I was 11 years old.  I read Six Hours One Friday.  Pretty heavy reading for a junior high student, but a powerful message that still resonates with me today as I contemplate the Cross.

I received this book as a part of Thomas Nelson’s Book Sneeze Program and was eager to review it on my blog.  God always amazes me at how He can take books I am reading, conversations I am having, songs I hear, and sermons from church and weave them all into a lesson that He wants me to learn.  I guess it’s good that God knows I am pretty hard headed and He has to use every method available to teach me!

The whole premise of this book is to live your life in a way that glorifies God and outlasts your physical time on this Earth.  The book is definitely a challenge to Christians to serve others and be the hands and feet of Christ particularly to the poor, the wounded, the downtrodden, the orphans, and the widows…just as the Bible commanded!

Here is the prevailing questions…What are you going to do to truly make a difference is life for the glory of God and the good of others?

Here are some things I highlighted while reading.  Please keep in mind that these are all Max’s words and not mine.  This is also only a small taste of what all this book has to offer those that really desire to go after what it means to truly live as a Christian.  Click here to pick up a copy of Outlive Your Life…and while you are at it, buy one to give away too!

  • The problem is not in the supply; the problem is in the distribution.  God has given this generation, our generation, everything we need to alter the course of human suffering.
  • Question 1: Had you been a German Christian during World War II, would you have taken a stand against Hitler?
  • Question 2: Had you lived in the South during the civil rights conflict, would you have taken a stand against racism?
  • Question 3: When your grandchildren discover you lived during a day in which 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?
  • “We are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT
  • Here’s a salute to long life: goodness that outlives the grave, love that outlasts the final breath.  May you live in such a way that your death is just the beginning of your life.
  • God doesn’t call the qualified.  He qualifies the called.
  • God spoke to us through Isaiah: “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6 ESV
  • With whom do you feel most fluent?
  • For whom do feel most compassion?
  • Governments don’t feed the soul.  The secular relief house can give a bed, a meal, and valuable counsel.  But we can give much more.  Not just help for this life but hope for the next.
  • Our common concern gave us a common song.
  • Our only hope is to work together.
  • Those who suffer belong to all of us.  And if all of us respond, there is hope.
  • Something holy happens around a dinner table that will never happen in a sanctuary.  In a church auditorium you see the backs of heads.  Around the table you see the expressions on faces.  In the auditorium one person speaks; around the table everyone has a voice.  Church services are on the clock.  Around the table there is time to talk.
  • Hospitality opens the door to uncommon community.
  • There is something fundamentally good about taking time to see a person.
  • Works done in God’s name long outlive our earthly lives.
  • It all began with an honest look and a helping hand.  Could this be God’s strategy for human hurt?  First, kind eyes meet desperate ones.  Next, strong hands help weak ones.  Then, the miracle of God.  We do our small part, he does the big part, and life at the Beautiful Gate beings to be just that.
  • Would you be bold tomorrow?  Then be with Jesus today.  Be in his Word.  Be with his people.  Be in his presence.  And when persecution comes (and it will), be strong.  Who knows?  People may realize that you, like the disciples, have been with Christ.
  • Help me see the world through your eyes by focusing on your son, remembering what he accomplished on the cross despite the persecution heaped on him.  Whatever persecution I might suffer, Lord, let it bring you honor – and use it to help other followers of Jesus who will face their own persecution.
  • Cut concern for the poor out of the Bible, and you cut the heart out of it.  God makes the poor his priority.  When the hungry pray, he listens.  When orphans cry, he sees.
  • Jesus had a target audience.  The poor.  The brokenhearted.  Captives.  The blind and oppressed.
  • Enable me to love the invisible God by serving the very visible poor in my corner of the world.  Help me to be creative without being condescending, encouraging without being egotistic, and fearless without being foolish.
  • We can rise too high but can never stoop too low.
  • The cross of Christ creates a new people, a people unhindered by skin color or family feud.  A new citizenry, based not on common ancestry or geography but on a common Savior.
  • “God has shown me that he doesn’t think anyone is unclean or unfit” Acts 10:28 CEV
  • Our passionate prayers move the heart of God.
  • None of us can help everyone.  But all of us can help someone.  And when we help them, we serve Jesus.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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