Max Lucado, born on January 11, 1955, is a best-selling Christian author and pastor known for his inspirational writings. Hailing from San Angelo, Texas, Lucado began his ministry in the 1980s and served as a missionary in Brazil. He later became the pulpit minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. Lucado’s books, with over 140 million copies in print, encompass a wide range of topics, from spirituality and faith to daily life challenges. Some of his notable works include “You Are Special” and “Traveling Light.” Lucado’s accessible and uplifting writing style has made him a sought-after speaker and a prominent figure in Christian literature, impacting readers globally with his messages of hope and grace.
Max Lucado Quotes
1. “What if you woke up this morning and had only the things you thanked God for yesterday?”
— Max Lucado
2. “Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right.”
— Max Lucado
3. “You change your life by changing your heart.”
— Max Lucado
4. “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
— Max Lucado
5. “Love like there’s no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again.”
— Max Lucado
6. “Conflict is inevitable but combat is optional.”
— Max Lucado
7. “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these, I commit my day.”
— Max Lucado
8. “God loves you simply because He has chosen to do so. He loves you when you don’t feel lovely. He loves you when no one else loves you. Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you, but God will love you always. No matter what!”
— Max Lucado
9. “The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.”
— Max Lucado
10. “God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way.”
— Max Lucado
11. “The key is this: Meet today’s problems with today’s strength. Don’t start tackling tomorrow’s problems until tomorrow. You do not have tomorrow’s strength yet. You simply have enough for today.”
— Max Lucado
12. “A woman’s heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.”
— Max Lucado
13. “God never said that the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.”
— Max Lucado
14. “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.”
— Max Lucado
15. “Stay strong! Your test will become your testimony, your mess will become your message.”
— Max Lucado
16. “CAN is 100 times more important than IQ.”
— Max Lucado
17. “Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.”
— Max Lucado
18. “Remember, you are special because I made you. And I don’t make mistakes.”
— Max Lucado
19. “God’s presence is his presence. His greatest gift is himself.”
— Max Lucado
20. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5 – 6 NIV.”
— Max Lucado
21. “God is God. He knows what he is doing. When you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart.”
— Max Lucado
22. “You weren’t an accident. You weren’t mass-produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on the earth by the Master Craftsman.”
— Max Lucado
23. “Feed your fears and your faith will starve. Feed your faith, and your fears will.”
— Max Lucado
24. “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.”
— Max Lucado
25. “Focus on giants – you stumble. Focus on God – Giants tumble.”
— Max Lucado
26. “You are valuable because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done – but simply because you are.”
— Max Lucado
27. “God gives us people to love and things to use, not things to love and people to use.”
— Max Lucado
28. “When you’re full of yourself, God can’t fill you. But when you empty yourself, God has a useful vessel.”
— Max Lucado
29. “God meets our needs one day at a time.”
— Max Lucado
30. “Changing directions in life is not tragic. Losing passion in life is.”
— Max Lucado
31. “When God is all you have, then all you have, is all you need.”
— Max Lucado
32. “Find joy in the ordinary.”
— Max Lucado
33. “God does not exist to make a big deal out of us. We exist to make a big deal out of him. It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s all about him.”
— Max Lucado
34. “Let your failures refine you, not define you.”
— Max Lucado
35. “Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and realizing you were the prisoner!”
— Max Lucado
36. “If today were your last, would you do what you’re doing? Or would you love more, give more, forgive more? Then do so! Forgive and give as if it were your last opportunity. Love like there’s no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again.”
— Max Lucado
37. “Can you imagine a life with no fear? What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats?”
— Max Lucado
38. “The presence of fear does not mean you have no faith. Fear visits everyone. But make your fear a visitor and not a resident.”
— Max Lucado
39. “Don’t measure the size of the mountain; talk to the One who can move it.”
— Max Lucado
40. “Children spell love with four letters: T-I-M-E…”
— Max Lucado
41. “The life of Jesus Christ is a message of hope, a message of mercy, a message of life in a dark world.”
— Max Lucado
42. “There is a difference between grace and mercy. Mercy is the decision of God not to punish us. But grace is the decision of God to save and bless us.”
— Max Lucado
43. “Humility has such power. Apologies can disarm arguments. Contrition can defuse rage. Olive branches do more good than battle axes ever will.”
— Max Lucado
44. “Meet your fears with faith.”
— Max Lucado
45. “When our deepest desire is not the things of God, or a favor from God, but God Himself, we cross a threshold.”
— Max Lucado
46. “You’ll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have. Are you in the wilderness? Find refuge in God’s presence. Find comfort in his people.”
— Max Lucado
47. “The next time you’re disappointed, don’t panic. Don’t give up. Just be patient and let God remind you He’s still in control.”
— Max Lucado
48. “Fear will always knock on your door. Just don’t invite it in for dinner. And for heaven’s sake, don’t offer it a bed for the night.”
— Max Lucado
49. “God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them.”
— Max Lucado
50. “The Bible is the story of two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane. In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand.”
— Max Lucado
51. “Let God have you, and let God love you – and don’t be surprised if your heart begins to hear music you’ve never heard and your feet learn to dance as never before.”
— Max Lucado
52. “I simply think God is greater than our weakness. In fact, I think it is our weakness that reveals how great God is.”
— Max Lucado
53. “Faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about this life and He will get us through it.”
— Max Lucado
54. “Forgiveness is not saying that the one who hurt you was right. Forgiveness is stating that God is faithful and he will do what is right.”
— Max Lucado
55. “Lower your expectations of earth. This isn’t heaven, so don’t expect it to be.”
— Max Lucado
56. “God is faithful even when his children are not.”
— Max Lucado
57. “If there are a thousand steps between us and God, He will take all but one. He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours.”
— Max Lucado
58. “And we need to share our story. Not with everyone but with someone. There is someone who is like you were. And he or she needs to know what God can do. Your honest portrayal of your past may be the courage for another’s future.”
— Max Lucado
59. “Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing, and listen as Heaven whispers, “Do you like it? I did it just for you.””
— Max Lucado
60. “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.”
— Max Lucado
61. “Your pain has a purpose. Your problems, struggles, heartaches, and hassles cooperate toward one end-the glory of God.”
— Max Lucado
62. “When Jesus died on the cross, so did your sin; when He rose from the dead, so did your HOPE.”
— Max Lucado
63. “Baptism is the initial step of a faithful heart.”
— Max Lucado
64. “Forgiveness doesn’t diminish justice; it just entrusts it to God. He guarantees the right retribution.”
— Max Lucado
65. “You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.”
— Max Lucado
66. “God meets daily needs daily. Not weekly or annually. He will give you what you need when it is needed.”
— Max Lucado
67. “God sees us with the eyes of a Father. He sees our defects, errors, and blemishes. But He also sees our value.”
— Max Lucado
68. “Sow seeds of hope and enjoy optimism. Sow seeds of doubt and expect insecurity.”
— Max Lucado
69. “God sees in you a masterpiece about to happen.”
— Max Lucado
70. “Write today’s worries in sand. Chisel yesterday’s victories in stone.”
— Max Lucado
71. “Be kind to yourself. God thinks you’re worth his kindness. And he’s a good judge of character.”
— Max Lucado
72. “Our belief in God is not blind faith. Belief is having a firm conviction something is true, not hoping it’s true.”
— Max Lucado
73. “Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness.”
— Max Lucado
74. “Fear creates a form of spiritual amnesia.”
— Max Lucado
75. “If Jesus heals instantly, praise Him. If Jesus heals gradually, trust Him. When Jesus heals ultimately, you will understand.”
— Max Lucado
76. “No one can pray and worry at the same time. When we worry, we aren’t praying. When we pray, we aren’t worrying.”
— Max Lucado
77. “If God is enough for you, then you’ll always have enough because you’ll always have God.”
— Max Lucado
78. “Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.”
— Max Lucado
79. “God answers the mess of life with one word: Grace.”
— Max Lucado
80. “You are never more like Jesus than when you pray for others. Pray for this hurting world.”
— Max Lucado
81. “Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did.”
— Max Lucado
82. “The people who make a difference are not the ones with the credentials but the ones with the concern.”
— Max Lucado
83. “If anybody understands God’s order for his children, it’s someone who has rescued an orphan from despair, for that is what God has done for us. God has adopted you. God sought you, found you, signed the papers and took you home.”
— Max Lucado
84. “Gratitude lifts our eyes off the things we lack so we might see the blessings we possess.”
— Max Lucado
85. “Relationships don’t thrive because the guilty are punished but because the innocent are merciful.”
— Max Lucado
86. “God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.”
— Max Lucado
87. “God’s mercies are new every morning. Receive them.”
— Max Lucado
88. “The purpose of the Bible? Salvation. God’s highest passion is to get His children home. His book, the Bible, describes His plan of salvation. The purpose of the Bible is to proclaim god’s plan and passion to save His children.”
— Max Lucado
89. “God’s highest desire is not to make us rich, successful, or popular. His goal is to make us His.”
— Max Lucado
90. “God does uncommon things through common people in common places.”
— Max Lucado
91. “In the great orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song, and you owe it to God to play them both sublimely.”
— Max Lucado
92. “No one can pray and worry at the same time.”
— Max Lucado
93. “One phrase summarizes the horror of hell. “God isn’t there.”
— Max Lucado
94. “The past does not have to be your prison. You have a voice in your destiny. You have a say in your life. You have a choice in the path you take.”
— Max Lucado
95. “God created marriage. No government subcommittee envisioned it. No social organization developed it. Marriage was conceived and born in the mind of God.”
— Max Lucado
96. “God can’t fill you when you are already full of yourself.”
— Max Lucado
97. “To accept grace is to admit failure, a step we are hesitant to take. We opt to impress God with how good we are rather than confessing how great he is.”
— Max Lucado
98. “I choose love. No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness, I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.”
— Max Lucado
99. “Two types of voices command your attention today. Negative ones fill your mind with doubt, bitterness, and fear. Positive ones purvey hope and strength. Which one will you choose to heed?”
— Max Lucado
100. “With God, everyday matters, every person counts. And that includes you.”
— Max Lucado
101. “A little rain can straighten a flower stem. A little love can change a life.”
— Max Lucado
102. “Jesus isn’t a God who stayed on the mountaintop – he’s a Savior who came down and lived and worked with the people.”
— Max Lucado
103. “Do you understand what God has done? He has deposited a Christ seed in you. As it grows you will change. It’s not that sin has no more presence in your life, but rather that sin has no more power over your life.”
— Max Lucado
104. “Though you see nothing, he is acting.”
— Max Lucado
105. “On the eve of the cross, Jesus made his decision. He would rather go to hell for you than go to heaven without you.”
— Max Lucado
106. “The meaning of life. The wasted years of life. The poor choices of life. God answers the mess of life with one word: ‘grace.’”
— Max Lucado
107. “Since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior. He became like us, so we could become like Him.”
— Max Lucado
108. “It’s not about winning or losing, but love and respect.”
— Max Lucado
109. “The Bible teaches us that God does not cause pain, but that He uses pain and evil to advance His cause and shape His servants.”
— Max Lucado
110. “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. ROMANS 12:2 NLT.”
— Max Lucado
111. “Answer the big question of eternity, and the little questions of life fall into perspective.”
— Max Lucado
112. “Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief.”
— Max Lucado
113. “What Christ does in us and through us will always be ‘exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.’”
— Max Lucado
114. “As long as you are stationary, no one will complain. Dogs don’t bark at parked cars.”
— Max Lucado
115. “I believe ingratitude is the original sin. I believe if Adam and Eve had been grateful for the garden of Eden they had, they would not have been so focused on the one tree they didn’t have.”
— Max Lucado
116. “The lack of God-centeredness leads to self-centeredness.”
— Max Lucado
117. “God has proven himself as a faithful father. Now it falls to us to be trusting children.”
— Max Lucado
118. “Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. Even if we are faithless, He is faithful, for He cannot betray himself. He is a sure God.”
— Max Lucado
119. “I’ve never been surprised by God’s judgment, but I’m still stunned by His grace.”
— Max Lucado
120. “The One who saved your soul longs to remake your heart. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus. Perhaps in seeing Him, we will see what we can become!”
— Max Lucado
121. “Revenge is the raging fire that consumes the arsonist.”
— Max Lucado
122. “Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed; no it is far greater than that. It is a zany, unpredictable dependence on a God who loves to surprise us out of our socks.”
— Max Lucado
123. “Nature is God’s workshop. The sky is his resume. The universe is his calling card. You want to know who God is? See what he has done.”
— Max Lucado
124. “The mind that is full of God is empty of anxiety. Are you troubled, restless, sleepless? Then think of God more!”
— Max Lucado
125. “If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek His grace.”
— Max Lucado
126. “Resentment is when you allow what’s eating you to eat you up. Revenge is the raging fire that consumes the arsonist. Bitterness is the trap that snares the hunter. And mercy is the choice that can set them all free.”
— Max Lucado
127. “The secret of loving is living loved.”
— Max Lucado
128. “When God looks at you, he doesn’t see you; he sees the One who surrounds you. That means that failure is not a concern for you. Your victory is secure.”
— Max Lucado
129. “Be a child again. Flirt. Giggle. Dip your cookies in your milk. Take a nap. Say you’re sorry if you hurt someone. Chase a butterfly. Be a child again.”
— Max Lucado
130. “A nation is blessed when it has godly leaders.”
— Max Lucado
131. “God loves you because He has chosen to do so.”
— Max Lucado
132. “We may speak about a place where there are no tears, no death, no fear, no night; but those are just the benefits of heaven. The beauty of heaven is seeing God.”
— Max Lucado
133. “The church is never a place to show off. Do your good deeds quietly. Serve; don’t seek to be seen.”
— Max Lucado
134. “Worship is the thank you that can’t be silenced.”
— Max Lucado
135. “Yesterday you can’t alter, but your reaction to yesterday you can. The past you cannot change, but your response to your past you can.”
— Max Lucado
136. “Don’t worry about having the right words; worry more about having the right heart. It’s not eloquence he seeks, just honesty.”
— Max Lucado
137. “Your challenge is not your challenge. Your challenge is the way you think about your challenge. Your problem is not your problem; it is the way you look at it. You can’t always control your circumstances, but you can control the way you process them.”
— Max Lucado
138. “To call yourself a child of God is one thing. To be called a child of God by those who watch your life is another thing altogether.”
— Max Lucado
139. “May you live in such a way that your death is just the beginning of your life.”
— Max Lucado
140. “When you recognize God as Creator, you will admire Him. When you recognize His wisdom, you will learn from Him. When you discover His strength, you will rely on Him. But only when He saves you will you worship Him.”
— Max Lucado
141. “God is kind, but he is not soft. He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life change.”
— Max Lucado
142. “Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers.”
— Max Lucado
143. “Those in the circle of Christ had no doubt of his love; those in our circles should have no doubt about ours.”
— Max Lucado
144. “Grace is God as heart surgeon, cracking open your chest, removing your heart – poisoned as it is with pride and pain – and replacing it with his own.”
— Max Lucado
145. “Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.”
— Max Lucado
146. “We’re important, but not essential; valuable, but not indispensable. We have a part in the play, but we are not the main act. A song to sing, but we are not the featured voice. God is.”
— Max Lucado
147. “When we submit to God’s plans, we can trust our desires. Our assignment is found at the intersection of God’s plan and our pleasures.”
— Max Lucado
148. “We have the freedom to pray and the freedom to love the God of our heart. And we have been forgiven by the only one who could condemn us. We are truly free.”
— Max Lucado
149. “If we can understand that death is not the end but is really a transition into the next life, the great part of life, that frees us up into receiving God’s courage and his help.”
— Max Lucado
150. “God has the final word on your life and His word is grace.”
— Max Lucado
151. “Patience is more than a virtue for long lines and slow waiters. Patience is the red carpet upon which God’s grace approaches us.”
— Max Lucado
152. “Gratitude develops faith. The surest path out of a slump is marked by the road sign thank you, God.”
— Max Lucado
153. “Faith is the bird that sings while it is yet dark.”
— Max Lucado
154. “The story of Joseph is in the Bible for this reason: to teach you to trust God to trump evil. What Satan intends for evil, God, the Master Weaver and Master Builder, redeems for good.”
— Max Lucado
155. “God’s blessings are dispensed according to the riches of his grace, not according to the depth of our faith.”
— Max Lucado
156. “You’re never without hope, because you’re never without prayer.”
— Max Lucado
157. “Be patient. God is using today’s difficulties to strengthen you for tomorrow. He is equipping you. The God who makes things grow will help you bear fruit.”
— Max Lucado
158. “Here’s what you need to keep in mind. You no longer have yesterday. You do not yet have tomorrow. You have only today. This is the day the Lord has made. Live in it.”
— Max Lucado
159. “Be quick to pray. Stop talking to yourself. Talk to Christ.”
— Max Lucado
160. “When grace happens, generosity happens. Unsquashable, eyepopping bigheartedness happens.”
— Max Lucado
161. “When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Study your skills, then, to reveal your assignment.”
— Max Lucado
162. “Though the Bible was written over sixteen centuries by at least forty authors, it has one central theme- salvation through faith in Christ.”
— Max Lucado
163. “There are some facts that will never change. One fact is that you are forgiven. If you are in Christ, when he sees you, your sins are covered- he doesn’t see them. He sees you better than you see yourself.”
— Max Lucado
164. “Be less about protecting any type of identity affiliated to a country or even ethnic background. Be more about the fact that we’re here for a short time and Heaven is going to be a rainbow of people, multicultural, every generation.”
— Max Lucado
165. “The magical dust of Christmas glittered on the cheeks of humanity ever so briefly, reminding us of what is worth having and what we were intended to be.”
— Max Lucado
166. “Indeed, baptism is a vow, a sacred vow of the believer to follow Christ. Just as a wedding celebrates the fusion of two hearts, baptism celebrates the union of sinner with Savior.”
— Max Lucado
167. “Each one of us should lead a life stirring enough to start a movement.”
— Max Lucado
168. “To have a pure heart, we must submit all thoughts to the authority of Christ. If we are willing to do that, he will change us to be like him.”
— Max Lucado
169. “But it is in storms that God does his finest work, for it is in storms that God has our keenest attention.”
— Max Lucado
170. “Gratitude. More aware of what you have than what you don’t. Recognizing the treasure in the simple – a child’s hug, fertile soil, a golden sunset. Relishing in the comfort of the common.”
— Max Lucado
171. “We need hope. There’s nothing worse than to live a life of despair. For a person to have no hope just sucks the blue out of every sky.”
— Max Lucado
172. “To the loved, a word of affection is a morsel; but to the love-starved, a word of affection can be a feast.”
— Max Lucado
173. “Don’t equate the presence of God with a good mood or a pleasant temperament. God is near whether you are happy or not.”
— Max Lucado
174. “Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you.”
— Max Lucado
175. “There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes – seize it, don’t miss it.”
— Max Lucado
176. “Just as your earthly house is a place of refuge, so God’s house is a place of peace.”
— Max Lucado
177. “The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional.”
— Max Lucado
178. “We exist to exhibit God, to display his glory. We serve as canvases for his brush stroke, papers for his pen, soil for his seeds, glimpses of his image.”
— Max Lucado
179. “Bread of Life? Jesus lived up to the title. But an unopened loaf does a person no good. Have you received the bread? Have you received God’s forgiveness?”
— Max Lucado
180. “In our faith we follow in someone’s steps. In our faith we leave footprints to guide others. It’s the principle of discipleship.”
— Max Lucado
181. “It’s okay to rest. Jesus fights when you cannot.”
— Max Lucado
182. “Our God is abundant in love and steadfast in mercy. He saves us, not because we trust in a symbol, but because we trust in a Savior.”
— Max Lucado
183. “Regardless of the circumstances that surrounded your arrival, you are not an accident. God planned you before you were born.”
— Max Lucado
184. “Mark it down. You will never go where God is not.”
— Max Lucado
185. “God offers authentic LOVE. His devotion is the real deal. But He won’t give you the genuine until you surrender the imitations.”
— Max Lucado
186. “What makes a Christian a Christian is not perfection but forgiveness.”
— Max Lucado
187. “When you keep the porch light on for the prodigal child, you do what God does every single moment.”
— Max Lucado
188. “God’s solution is a prayer away!”
— Max Lucado
189. “God is fond of you. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. If He had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Face it, friend, He’s crazy about you.”
— Max Lucado
190. “When you give a gift to one of God’s children, you give a gift to God.”
— Max Lucado
191. “If we think that this life is all there is to life, then there is no interpretation of our problems, our pain, not even of our privileges. But everything changes when we open up to the possibility that God’s story is really our story too.”
— Max Lucado
192. “Are you on the eve of change? Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life, change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments.”
— Max Lucado
193. “People are watching the way we act, more than they are listening to what we say.”
— Max Lucado
194. “There is one word to describe the night He came – ordinary… But God dances amidst the common. And that night He did a waltz.”
— Max Lucado
195. “Don’t quit. For if you do, you may miss the answer to your prayers.”
— Max Lucado
196. “Staying engaged with God is absolutely essential for getting through a tough time.”
— Max Lucado
197. “The greater your cares, the more genuine your prayers.”
— Max Lucado
198. “Unmet expectations are tough when it’s your wife or your husband, but it’s really tough when it’s God. And yet, it can be a time of growth and a time of faith, a time of understanding who God is.”
— Max Lucado
199. “Philosophers can debate the meaning of life, but you need a Lord who can declare the meaning of life.”
— Max Lucado
200. “Christmas is best pondered, not with logic, but with imagination.”
— Max Lucado
