Max Lucado calls believers to ‘relax’ as they learn to lean into Christ

TITLE: Grace

AUTHOR: Max Lucado

PUBLISHER: Thomas Nelson

ISBN: 978-0-849-92070-7

PRICE: $24.99

RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18

With more than 80 million books in print, Max Lucado already has the attention of Christian retailers. But his latest trade release, Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine, addresses his favorite subject—grace.

Having written on the subject in Grace for the Moment and In the Grip of Grace, Lucado now expounds on it further.

“This particular book grew out of an increased awareness of not wanting to limit grace to an event that happens on the moment of salvation in the life of a believer, but beginning to see that grace is God’s commitment to us, His radical commitment not just to save us, but to change us,” Lucado told Christian Retailing. “In the Grip of Grace really focused on the salvation moment and why the cross of Christ is essential for salvation and what’s unique about it, and this one does that as well, but I really tried to unpack if a person is not just saved by grace, but living in a state of grace, what does that look like? And what does God’s grace have to do with the rest of my life?”

In the book’s 12 chapters, Lucado offers stories and scripture that illustrate grace at work. In “Grace on the Fringe,” he examines how God takes the mess of life and makes it into a masterpiece, and in “Fear Dethroned,” he shows how sustaining grace meets us at the point of need.

To Lucado, grace has become very personal—and he thinks his experience in that regard is not unique.

“I find the grace in the Gospels and the grace that Paul described to be so radical, so unnerving, so feisty that it stuns us—it stuns me—I may just be speaking out of my own experience, but I went a long time in my life and was long into the mystery before I really realized how the idea that God lives inside me, to be able to say it’s no longer I live, but Christ who lives in me,” he said.

Regarding many who profess Christ, he believes “it’s been a long time since they were stunned by the thought that Jesus took their old heart out, and He put His heart in, and that this heart of divinity is beating inside us and it will change us. … It’s not that it might or it could, but it will, and we can believe that that’s going to happen.”

His vision for the book is to “move the reader into a place where they are living grace out in their own lives,” he said. “This book tries to answer the question, what happens when grace happens? When a person lives in a place of grace, what happens to them? Well, they begin doing the things that were done to them. They begin giving grace to people who are hard to forgive, they begin demonstrating generosity instead of stinginess, they begin living with less anxiety because they are convinced that God died for me, apparently He’s going to care for me. I can trust Him with my soul, I can trust Him with my Monday as well and my electric bill.”

Grace is active in the Christian’s life after getting saved.

“There’s a sentence in the book that says that God is not just about getting us into heaven, but getting heaven into us and changing us so that we really look more and more like Jesus,” he said.

Addressing more than the “technical transaction between heaven and earth that took place with Jesus when He died on the cross,” Lucado wants the reader to see that the same sustaining power involved in that transaction is “going to be waiting on us tomorrow when we have the next challenge, waiting on us in the next chapter of life when we have kids grown up, empty-nesters, and waiting on us at death when it’s our time.”

His message to believers is to rest in Christ and His work.

“I want people to relax a bit, rest in His grace and know that God is going to give them that strength,” he said. “It’s so unique, this Christian grace, you don’t find it in any other world religion, you don’t find it in any other philosophy. Everybody else says dig deeper, you’ll find it inside you. Christianity says no, you won’t find it in you, but you’ll find it in God. You’re a sinner, you need forgiveness. Start leaning into Him instead of trying to dig into yourself.”

Coinciding with the book’s release, Lucado will embark on an international conference tour, including appearances at Women of Faith and Women of Joy events. The book will also be featured in a worldwide, two-hour simulcast hosted by in:caste events Sept. 22.

To order Grace, contact Thomas Nelson at 800-251-4000, or visit the Web site www.thomasnelson.com.