After reading Max Lucado’s Outlive Your Life it is hard not to feel a sense of change and boldness come over your being. Max Lucado takes the reader through a journey in which the reader finds himself or herself learning how to identify areas in need of compassion and how to react to those situations. Through his picturesque writing style and numerous stories he is able to move the reader through imagery to bring them to the point of acknowledging these few but life-changing truths. And that is that Jesus commands his disciples to “outlive their lives” by breaking boundaries, sacrificing of themselves, and identifying the needs of those around them. One can appreciate the pastoral care that Lucado provides in giving practical application to the heart of the book by teaching readers how to apply these principles into their daily lives with vivid examples and down to earth emotion. His book challenges the very culture that Christians have claimed to portray by truly calling the church to be the hands and feet of Jesus reaching out to those in need. He mentions that the church ought to be the image of the “invisible God” to the “visible need” around them. I would recommend this book to anyone who would say that they have a heart for the lost and hurting. Lastly, one must admire how Max Lucado not only writes the words on the page but acts out his message by contributing 100% of the royalties from his book to World Vision. In an age where many are quick to talk the talk Max Lucado presents to the church a way to walk the walk in his book Outlive Your Life.
