Outlive Your Life

Max Lucado

Thomas Nelson Publishing


We are common folk. We sit in the bleachers, eat at diners, change diapers, and wear our favorite team's ball cap. Fan's don't wave when we pass. Servants don't scurry when we come home. Chauffeurs don't drive our cars; butlers don't open our doors or draw our baths. Doormen don't greet us, and security doesn't protect us. We are regular folk. And we wonder: does God use people like us. He did. God stampeded the first-century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds. Are you more dinghy than cruise ship? More stand-in than movie star? More blue jeans than blue blood? Congratulations. God changes the world with folks just like you.

This is the second Max Lucado book that I have read and I have to say that it is an incredible book. Lucado delves into a subject that, upon reflection, lay deep within the heart of every person: Living a life that matters. Moving effortlessly through the first few chapters of Acts, Lucado shows us how God used the very people that society discounted, as the catalyst to change the world. These men and women of God were nothing to the culture that they lived in: a tax collector, a prostitute, a bunch of fishermen -- yet they were pivotal in spreading the Gospel of Christ and shaping history.

I actually read this entire book in a day. Once you breach the first chapter, Max draws you in and points you toward challenge after challenge, daring you to deepen your relationship with Christ and, in so doing, broadening the ministry that He has placed you in. Don't misunderstand, you are eyeball-deep in a ministry whether you realize it or not. Your ministry is to be Christ to people around you - even when you can't stand to be around them. Max weaves personal anecdotes between scripture and stories of real-life people who simply trusted God to use them, and the incredible outcomes of that simple trust.

Lucado's unique writing style, mixed with his honest perspective on life, creates a book that encourages as it challenges, and uplifts as it subtly chastens. I found I had to ask myself several times why I knew what Lucado was saying, but I wasn't acting on it. Outlive Your Life is a call to all Christians to walk what we say we believe. To move like we say we do. To be what we say we are -- Followers of Christ.

I encourage everyone that wants to live their Christian life to the fullest to get this book, as well as Lucado's Fearless, and read them one after the other. You will walk away with a new understanding of God's will for you, I can promise you that.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their 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."