Max Lucado - The Applause of Heaven: Discover the Secret to a Truly Satisfying Life

The

APPLAUSE

of

HEAVEN

INSPIRATIONAL

3:16

A Gentle Thunder

A Love Worth Giving

And the Angels Were Silent

Come Thirsty

Cure for the Common Life

God Came Near

Gods Story, Your Story

Grace

Great Day Every Day

Facing Your Giants

Fearless

He Chose the Nails

He Still Moves Stones

In the Eye of the Storm

In the Grip of Grace

Its Not About Me

J ust Like Jesus

Max on Life

Next Door Savior

No Wonder They Call Him the Savior

On the Anvil

Outlive Your Life

Six Hours One Friday

The Applause of Heaven

The Great House of God

Traveling Light

When Christ Comes

When God Whispers Your Name

Youll Get Through This

FICTION

The Christmas Candle

Christmas Stories

BIBLES (GENERAL EDITOR)

Grace for the Moment Daily Bible

The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible

Childrens Daily Devotional Bible

CHILDRENS BOOKS

A Max Lucado Childrens Treasury

Do You Know I Love You, God?

God Forgives Me, and I Forgive You

God Listens When I Pray

Grace for the Moment: 365

Devotions for Kids

Hermie, a Common Caterpillar

Just in Case You Ever Wonder

One Hand, Two Hands

Thank You, God, for Blessing Me

Thank You, God, for Loving Me

The Crippled Lamb

The Oak Inside the Acorn

T he Tallest of Smalls

You Are Mine

You Are Special

YOUNG ADULT BOOKS

3:16

Its Not About Me

Make Every Day Count

Wild Grace

You Were Made to Make a Difference

GIFT BOOKS

Fear Not Promise Book

For These Tough Times

God Thinks Youre Wonderful

Grace for the Moment

Grace for the Moment Morning and Evening

Grace Happens Here

His Name Is Jesus

Let the Journey Begin

Live Loved

Mocha with Max

One Incredible Moment

Safe in the Shepherds Arms

This Is Love

You Changed My Life

1990, 1996, 1999 by Max Lucado

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked TLB are from The Living Bible. 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NEB are from THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE. 1961, 1970 by The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Reprinted by permission.

Scripture quotations marked PHILLIPS are from J. B. Phillips: THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MODERN ENGLISH, Revised Edition. J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

ISBN 978-0-8499-4632-5 (SE)

ISBN 978-0-8499-2123-0 (BSE)

ISBN 978-0-8499-4750-6 (Trade paper Repack)

The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier edition as follows:

Lucado, Max.

The applause of heaven / Max Lucado.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-8499-1324-2 (HC)

1. Beatitudes=Devotional literature. I. Title.

bt382.l8 1990

226.9306=dc20 9039315

Printed in the United States of America

13 14 15 16 17 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Stanley Shipp, my father in the faith

CONTENTS

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.

Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward....

GOD SAYS ALL THE BIG WORDS IN OUR LIVES. STILL, IT IS OFT-TIMES the little words that make the Big Word sing. Max Lucado is a rare and welcome talent who is dedicated to the Word made flesh, but is also a spellbinding spinner of such smaller words as may ornament Gods Word.

I first discovered Lucado when I casually took No Wonder They Call Him the Savior off a bookstore shelf. Nothing was casual after his first line hooked my eye. Lucado has become popular for two reasons: he reveres Christ, and he loves the world around him. This double love binds our minds and beckons us to follow closely to see where his paragraphs may lead.

It is because Max Lucado loves his Lord that he turns from the muddlesome and thumbworn language so common in the church. To Lucado, Jesus is no ordinary noun to be theologized into dullness. Rather, all holy relationships are glorious, and only the best, most creative English is worthy. So he weaves anew the Shroud of Turin, leaving us no doubt that this splendid cloth has touched the body of our Lord and has been forever marked by the imprimatur of Lucados reverence. Where no ordinary words will serve, heres how he bids us know the Christ:

Sacred delight derives from stubborn joy, he exults.

If you have time to read this chapter, you probably dont need to, he calls to those who think theyre too busy for the spiritual disciplines.

On and on his wisdom flows: Show a man his failures without Jesus, and the result will be found in the roadside gutter. Give a man religion without reminding him of his filth, and the result will be arrogance in a three-piece suit.

He counsels the arrogant that facing Christ is like entering the Church of the Nativity: The door is so low, you cant go in standing up.

He rebukes the bitter: Hatred is the rabid dog that turns on its owner.... The very word grudge starts with... GRRR... a growl!

This book introduces the Beatitudes, which introduce the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes fly at us, but in the simple metaphors of ordinary life. So youll meet Christ even as you meet the Exxon Valdez that dark March night in 1989, when she spilled her crude venom on Bligh Reef in Alaska. The Christ of communion will come to you as you meet Gayaney Petroysan, an Armenian four years old who begged her mothers blood to live. And any number of great Bible heroes come and go in this book to make real the introduction to Jesus great Sermon on the Mount.

Max and I are friends. I may have overpressed him to be my friend, and I will admit the friendship was originally my idea. But, I confess, I wanted to know Christ as Max does. I wanted to feel the April wind that breathed upon the cross, as he does. I wanted to fall like Thomas before Christ and cry, My Lord and my God! as he does. I needed Max to give me lessons on obedience and spiritual need.

Read this book in a quiet place and you may feel a wounded hand fall lightly on your shoulder. Be not afraid of the nearness you will feel to Christ, but go on and walk his paragraphs. Then you will know by experience that Lucado travels the high country of the Galilee of the heart.

CALVIN MILLER

THIS BOOK WAS ALMOST AS DIFFICULT TO TITLE AS IT WAS TO write. We went through list after list of options. Dozens of titles were suggested and dozens were discarded. Carol Bartley, Dave Moberg, the late Kip Jordon, and others at Word Publishing spent hours searching for the appropriate phrase that would describe the heart of the book.