Pastor and bestselling author Max Lucado has gotten a tattoo at the age of 70 to commemorate the “golden anniversary of God’s great grace” in his life. Lucado got the word “tetelestai,” Greek for “it is finished,” tattooed on his right forearm.
“On a spring evening in 1975, I heard a preacher describe a grace that is greater than sin. On the cross Christ paid my debt. It is paid- paid in full,” said Lucado in an Instagram post displaying his new tattoo. “I said ‘yes.’”
“That was 50 years ago. In the intervening half century, I have failed Jesus many times, but he has never failed me,” the pastor said. “To commemorate this anniversary, I got a tattoo. Tetelestai- It is finished.”
“Not everyone likes the idea of a 70-year-old pastor getting a tattoo,” Lucado observed. “That’s ok. I didn’t do it for people, I did it to say thank you to Jesus who paid a debt I could not pay.”
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Max Lucado: ‘Do You Know This Grace?’
Max Lucado is teaching minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio and the author of more than 145 million products in print. In his Instagram post, he shared, “My testimony is interwoven with my favorite word in the Bible. On the cross Christ proclaimed, ‘It is finished!’ (Jn. 19:30) In Greek- ‘Tetelestai!’ Among the meanings of this word is, ‘paid in full.’”
Lucado said that at the time he decided to put his trust in Jesus, “I was a 20-year-old scoundrel, a bum, a train off the tracks. My priority was six-packs; not the kind that come from crunches, but from Coors.” In a message he gave Sunday, April 13, Lucado expounded on his personal story and presented the gospel to the congregation.
“I come from a long line of alcoholics,” said Lucado, explaining how began drinking in his youth and continued that habit even though his father required him to go to a Christian college to get away from his high school drinking buddies. The whole time that Lucado was in the grip of alcohol, he felt a deep sense of shame.
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