My Notes On, God Came Near, By: Max Lucado

We can live next to something for a lifetime, but unless we take time to focus on it, it doesn’t become a part of our life.

Once you have seen his face you will forever long to see it again.

How absurd to think that such nobility would go to such poverty to share such a treasure with such thankless souls.

Your silent prayers uttered on tearstained pillows were heard before they were said.

You see, if God is God anywhere, he has to be God in the face of death. Pop psychology can deal with depression. Pep talks can deal with pessimism. Prosperity can handle hunger. But only God can deal with our ultimate dilemma—death. And only the God of the Bible has dared to stand on the canyon’s edge and offer an answer. He has to be God in the face of death. If not, he is not God anywhere. (John11:25-26)

Eternal instants. You’ve had them. We all have. Sharing a porch swing on a summer evening with your grandchild. Seeing her face in the glow of a candle. Putting your arm into your husband’s as you stroll through the golden leaves and breathe the brisk autumn air. Listening to your six-year-old thank God for everything from goldfish to Grandma. Such moments are necessary because they remind us that everything is okay. The King is still on the throne and life is still worth living. Eternal instants remind us that love is still the greatest possession and the future is nothing to fear. The next time an instant in your life begins to be eternal, let it. Put your head back on the pillow and soak it in. Resist the urge to cut it short. Don’t interrupt the silence or shatter the solemnity. You are, in a very special way, on holy ground.

God’s Word has strong medicine for those who carelessly wag their tongues. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.1 He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.2 He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.3 When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.

Mark it down. We are what we see. If we see only ourselves, our tombstones will have the same epitaph Paul used to describe enemies of Christ: “Their god is their own appetite, they glory in their shame, and this world is the limit of their horizon.”