We are releasing a new book today! This book is about the single most important person in history- Jesus Christ.
The reward of Christianity is Christ. Not money in the bank or a car in the garage or a healthy body or a better self-image. Those are likely, yet secondary and tertiary fruits. But the first fruit, the cache, the treasure of faith is Him. The heart-stopping realization that in Him you are a part of something that is ancient, endless, unstoppable and unfathomable. And that He, who can dig the Grand Canyon with his pinkie, knows you and thinks you’re worth dying for.
Ponder Christ to stir your awe.
And ponder Christ to change your life. “We all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 RSV)
An art teacher was struggling to raise her students’ work to the next level. Try as she might and teach as she would, their colors were drab. Finally, after great persuasion, she convinced a gallery to loan her a work by Norman Rockwell. For one day only, they insisted. She agreed. She set the frame on an easel, called the students to gather around and said simply: “Do that.”
How does God change us? He teaches. He instructs. He tells stories. But his greatest work was the day he sent the image of himself. Jesus Christ was imported from the galleries of heaven, for but a brief time, but just enough time for God to point at him and say, “Do that.”
Oh, but how can we? You can’t, God replies. The change “… comes from the Lord who is Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18a RSV). He does the changing. We do the beholding. “…beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being changed from one degree of glory to another ” (vs. 18b). To behold Him is to become like Him. So, come let us behold him.
That is the purpose of this new book. It has been my joy to write about Jesus for 35 years. This project combines some of my earliest writings with some brand-new pieces. My deepest prayer is that they would lead you close to Jesus.
(Available at MaxLucado Store or wherever books are sold) Link: Read Chapter One
© Max Lucado January 2020
