Out Live Your Life--A Review

  One of the authors I read most is Max Lucado.  His books are always so readable and meaningful.  It is obvious that he takes great care in the words that he says and asks God to guide his pen as he writes.  His words have effected Christians now for 25 years, this book is the 25th year anniversary book of his published works!

  That in and of itself is an incredible feat and is worth honoring.  This book is a great addition to Max's legacy, not just because of its content and message but because of Max's generosity in donating all of the proceeds to World Vision and their efforts to heal a lot of wounds inflicted upon the  3rd world by AIDS, poverty and natural disasters.

  Max not only desired to effect change with the money from this book either.  Max wrote this book to challenge Christians to live out their faith and in so doing they will out live their lives.  The premise of this book is that if we put action to our faith, no matter how small those actions may seem to us, they can effect large scale change that will echo throughout our lives and beyond.

  To spur the reader on in this effort, Max delves deep into the book of Acts and relays to the reader how the early church was used by God to jump start a movement (Christianity) and in so doing out live their lives.  Max takes snippets from the book of Acts, shares in his uncanny way what it means and then each chapter is a call to action and a call to live out our faith.

  Max hands down is one of the best illustrious story-telling pastors of our generation.  He expertly gives a natural story that translates into a spiritual reality and allows most readers to catch the deeper meaning very quickly.  In this book, Max shares how anyone can be used for the Glory of God by God Himself, no one need worry about their social status, or their race, or their financial status, all that is needed is a willing heart.

  I think my favorite paragraph from this book is: "God calls us to change the way we look at people.  Not to see them as Gentiles or Jews, insiders or outsiders, liberals or conservatives.  Not a label. To label is to libel. "We stopped evaluating others from a human point of view" (2 Cor. 5:16).  Let's view people differently; let's view them as we do ourselves.  Blemished, perhaps.  Unfinished, for certain.  Yet once rescued and restored, we may shed light, like the two-stained glass windows in my office" (Lucado, p. 150).

  Not only calling us to act different, but to all around  live different is a huge and powerful thrust throughout this book and one that can be heard and felt throughout the pages it's written on.

  I will confess that this is not my favorite Lucado book (Facing Your Giants claims that title still) but it is a powerful read and is worth buying for sure!  Keeping in mind that all the proceeds benefit World Vision, that alone would be worth buying it, with the added bonus that you get a great, challenging book out of that donation...why not buy it?

  I was again blessed by Thomas Nelson and this book was made available to me through their blogging for books program called "Book Sneeze".  If you desire to buy this book click HERE.