Review of "Just Like Jesus"

Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado

Reviewed by Pat Beaty

“God loves you the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way; He wants you to be Just Like Jesus.”  That is the theme that pervades this entire book.

            Mr. Lucado begins this well-written work by expounding on the fact that God does love you the way you are. He stresses our need for the “heart of Christ” and compares this with what the world offers.  He stresses that “God is willing to change us into the likeness of the Savior if only we will accept his offer.”

            The author discusses the “forgiving heart” in the chapter about people we have to “put up with,” and he points out the failures of even Christ’s own disciples in this regard. Mr. Lucado then writes a moving account of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet.

            However, it is felt that the most beautifully written account in this work is the story of Jesus and the leper.  In the writer’s retelling of this miraculous healing, the reader feels the very pain that this suffering individual endures right up to the wondrous words, “be healed”.

            One absorbing area of Mr. Lucado’s work is devoted to our “ears”.  He states “its not that we don’t have ears; it’s that we don’t use them.”  He points out that this concept is discussed eight times in the Gospels and eight times in the book of Revelation.  He says that it isn’t good enough that we have these organs; we must be diligent and use them.  He quotes from the Bible in this regard and writes to the reader about “how to listen”.  The author ends this section in a discussion of being one with God.

            With allusions to events in the Holy Word and everyday experiences, the author stresses that God wants to change us.  He uses several everyday occurrences to explain this and points out that being a Christian (while God is transforming us) requires hard work on our parts.

            Mr. Lucado devotes a good deal of space in this writing to “lying” and directs our attention to the numerous places in the Bible where this is discussed.  The author writes of other topics in this fine work and admonishes us to “fix our eyes upon Jesus.”