‘Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions’ by Max Lucado – Book Review

It is always helpful to find a resource that helps answer life’s toughest questions. We have that in Max Lucado’s latest book, ‘Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions.’

Here is the synopsis of this book:

What Do You Wonder About? Do hows and whys niggle at your mind? Any wheres and whens keeping you up at night? In more than thirty years – as an author, pastor, husband, and father – Max Lucado has fielded a lot of questions. Questions born of doubt and pain or just plain curiosity.

Big questions about life and faith, heaven and hell:


Do angels really walk among us?
How should I discipline my kids?
Any advice for my struggling marriage?
Why do I worry so much?
How do I know what God’s will for me really is?

Closer-to-home dilemmas about sex, managing money, or raising kids.

This book gathers Max’s responses to the most often-asked questions. They’re vintage Lucado. Simple without being simplistic. Knowledgeable without being know-it-all.  Direct but compassionate, honest and authoritative, and always deeply practical. Full of challenges and comfort.

Bite-sized essays. Practical, inspirational, and Bible-based. Topical and scriptural indexes help you find your way. There’s even a special addendum to encourage would-be writers.

Max Lucado doesn’t pretend to give the final word on difficult issues. But question by question he keeps you looking toward the One who is the ultimate Answer to all our hows and whys and wheres and whens.

What, after all, is what life is really about.

Here is the biography of this author:

With more than 100 million products in print, Max Lucado is one of America’s most widely read authors. He and his wife, Denalyn, live in San Antonio, Texas, where he serves the Oak Hills Church.  

And here is Pastor Lucado explaining the purpose behind this book:

Pastor Lucado categorizes the questions into seven categories:

·         Hope – God, Grace, and “Why am I here?”

·         Hurt – Conflicts, Calamities, and “Why me?”

·         Help – Prayers, Scriptures, and “Why church?”

·         Him/Her – Sex, Romance, and “Any chance of a second chance?”

·         Home – Diapers, Disagreements, and “Any hope for prodigals?”

·         Have/Have-Nots – Work, Money, and “Where’s the lifeline?”

·         Hereafter – Cemeteries, Heaven, Hell, and “Who goes where?”

Those categories cover all of the bases!

This book answers 172 questions covering the gamut of subjects. Here is one about heaven and the bodies we will have there (here the full question and an edited answer):

154. I’ve been reading a book about the afterlife, and I wondered what our resurrected bodies will be like. I’ve struggled for years with a weight problem, so I sure hope I have a different body in heaven!

 ….We were not designed to be mentally unstable, crippled, or blind. In fact, when Jesus found people who were handicapped, he healed them. Why? Handicaps were not part of God’s original plan. If the man born blind was meant to be blind, Jesus would have left him that way.

We will all be the optimal size we need to be. Maybe short people will be a little taller and tall people a little shorter. Maybe skinny people will be a little heavier. Changes occur in our blueprints because of an imperfect genetic code. Whatever body we were meant to have, we will be given. And everything God makes is good. (p. 206)

Here are a few other intriguing questions in the ‘Hereafter’ chapter:

156. What does God think of suicide victims? What does that mean for their salvation? For our memories? For our peace of mind? (p. 208)  

167. What of the people who have never heard of God? How can God judge them for what they do not know? (p. 222)

168. I don’t like the narrow-mindedness of Christians. It is absurd to sat that Jesus is the only way to heaven. (p. 224)

The answer to that last question is particularly relevant because of the recent release of Rob Bell’s latest book, ‘Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived’ and the controversy that went along with it. I will be reading and reviewing that book soon.

I have read numerous Max Lucado books over the many years that he has been writing them. The last book of his that I read is ‘Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference' (you can read my review here). I have been satisfied with every one of his books I have read, and ‘Max on Life’ is no exception. I appreciate his Biblical insights and wisdom, and am grateful that he shares that wisdom with his readers. I recommend this book for all; it is highly relevant for young people who are just getting started in life. What a great graduation gift this hardcover book would make! Even this not-so-young-anymore person will make reference to it on a regular basis! I think I will suggest my husband, Fred, and I read one question and answer per evening before going to sleep.

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Thomas Nelson Publishers and provided by them for review purposes.