Outlive Your Life_ You Were Made to Make a Difference - Max Lucado [51]
“Give me your unborn children,” she offered. (Opening words or just the ones I remember most? I don’t know.) “Don’t abort them. If you cannot raise them, I will. They are precious to God.”
Who would have ever pegged this slight Albanian woman as a change agent? Born in a cauldron of ethnic strife, the Balkans. Shy and introverted as a child. Of fragile health. One of three children. Daughter of a generous but unremarkable businessman. Yet somewhere along her journey, she became convinced that Jesus walked in the “distressing disguise of the poor,” and she set out to love him by loving them. In 1989 she told a reporter that her Missionaries had picked up around fifty-four thousand people from the streets of Calcutta and that twenty-three thousand or so had died in their care.3
I wonder if God creates people like Mother Teresa so he can prove his point: “See, you can do something today that will outlive your life.”
There are several billion reasons to consider his challenge. Some of them live in your neighborhood; others live in jungles you can’t find and have names you can’t pronounce. Some of them play in cardboard slums or sell sex on a busy street. Some of them walk three hours for water or wait all day for a shot of penicillin. Some of them brought their woes on themselves, and others inherited the mess from their parents.
None of us can help everyone. But all of us can help someone. And when we help them, we serve Jesus.
Who would want to miss a chance to do that?
Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”
(Matt. 25:34–36 NLT)
O Lord, where did I see you yesterday . . . and didn’t recognize you? Where will I encounter you today . . . and fail to identify you? O my Father, give me eyes to see, a heart to respond, and hands and feet to serve you wherever you encounter me! Transform me, Lord, by your Spirit into a servant of Christ, who delights to meet the needs of those around me. Make me a billboard of your grace, a living advertisement for the riches of your compassion. I long to hear you say to me one day, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And I pray that today I would be that faithful servant who does well at doing good. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Discussion and
Action Guide
Prepared by David Drury
Max wants you to do more than read about the book of Acts. He wants you to live out the twenty-ninth chapter, writing the story of the church for your generation. Outlive Your Life urges you to reconsider your role in the world. The earliest Christians made ministry to the marginalized the center of their work. Jesus touched hurts, felt pain, and spoke grace. Following his example, the church exists to open doors, break walls, and restore relationships. If you want to go to the next level in being all Jesus Christ dreams for you and the church to be, the following pages will help you get started.
Use this guide to spark further reflection and inspire action related to the perspectives in Outlive Your Life. Each chapter in this guide includes Questions for Discussion that you can talk over in a group or consider on your own. You will also find Ideas for Action, which offer practical first steps in making a difference. Consider them. Then do them. Don’t miss this opportunity to outlive your life.
CHAPTER 1: OUR ONCE-IN-HISTORY OPPORTUNITY
Questions for Discussion
1. How would you relate Ephesians 2:10 to the fable about Father Benjamin?
2. Describe someone you know who is outliving his or her life by meeting needs. In what ways do you want to be more like