Review: Glory Days

Glory Days
By Max Lucado
Thomas Nelson, 2015


Summary

The wilderness. Maybe you know it well.

The Israelites sure did. After all, they spent forty years wandering the desert. Victories were scarce. Progress was slow. They were free from Pharaoh but not free from fear. Saved but stuck.

Sounds a lot like midlife misery. Caught in a rut. Stalled out. Running on empty. Are you mired in the same?

You can name the day you became a Christian and escaped Egypt. But you can’t remember the last time you defeated a temptation or experienced an answered prayer. You’re fighting the same battles you fought the day you came to Christ. You’re out of Egypt, but Egypt’s not out of you. Isn’t the Christian life supposed to be better than this?

Jesus offers abundant joy. Yet you live with oppressive grief. The epistles speak of grace. You shoulder guilt. You are more than a conqueror yet are commonly conquered by temptation or weaknesses.

But there’s good news. With God’s help you can close the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be. Like Joshua and the Israelites, you can move from a wilderness existence into a promised inheritance.

This is God’s vision for your life. You, at full throttle. You, as you were intended. You, as victor over the Jerichos and giants. You, minus the stumbles, hurts, and hate. You and your Promised Land life.


My thoughts

Max Lucado is one of my favorite Bible teachers today, for he beautifully crafts emotional word pictures that make me think and then pick up my Bible to go deeper. His impactful style of writing is such that anyone can relate to it, from the new Christian to seasoned believers. While I've enjoyed all that I've read by Max so far, Glory Days just might be one of his best teaching resources as he carries us up close and personal through the book of Joshua.

I'm pretty familiar with the historical elements of Joshua, but never realized it contained so much essential insight for daily Christian living. For instance, I've always thought of the Christian's Promised Land as heaven, maybe because of hymns I grew up with, but Lucado puts forth that it is a spiritual reality - a spiritual reality that many Christians fail to experience because they're still wandering in the wilderness, enslaved by fear. And one of the most meaningful aspects of his writing is the wealth of Scriptures that he draws from.

What a powerful book! Each chapter focuses on a particular passage and theme from Joshua, and the book would work well for either personal or group Bible study. I've read Glory Days for review purposes, now I'm eager to begin again and go deeper, maybe even memorizing a few Scriptures that are especially meaningful to me. And since I already have so much highlighted, let me share just a few quotes . . .

• Jericho may be strong. But Jesus is stronger. Let him be your strength.
• Glory Days happen to the degree that we trust him.
• One stumble does not define or break a person. Though you failed, God's love does not.
• Landing in a pigpen stinks. But staying there is just plain stupid.
• Heeding God's Word is more critical than fighting God's war. Indeed, heeding God's Word is fighting God's war.
• Remember who you are; you are God's child. You've been bought by the most precious commodity in the history of the universe: the blood of Christ.

And the last lines of Glory Days beautifully sum up its message:

This is your inheritance: more victory than defeat,

more joy than sadness, more hope than despair.

These days are Glory Days.

I highly recommend Glory Days to all readers.

_________________________

More than 120 million readers have found comfort in the writings of Max Lucado. He ministers at the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Denalyn, and a sweet but misbehaving mutt, Andy.

Find out more about Glory Days by visiting the Litfuse landing page.

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.