Max Lucado Gets Tattoo to Mark 50 Years of Salvation, Saying Jesus ‘Changed My Life’

Well-known pastor and author Max Lucado celebrated the 50th anniversary of his salvation in recent days by getting inked with a tattoo—complete with a Greek word straight from Scripture. The teaching pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, and the author of such books as He Chose the Nails and Anxious for Nothing, Lucado posted images of his new tattoo on his Instagram page as he shared his testimony and urged his social media followers to accept Christ.

“I’m celebrating the golden anniversary of God’s great grace in my life. 50 years ago this spring, grace found me,” he wrote. “My testimony is interwoven with my favorite word in the Bible. On the cross Christ proclaimed, ‘It is finished!’ (John 19:30) In Greek—‘Tetelestai!’ Among the meanings of this word is, ‘paid in full.’ This was the message that changed my life.

“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. Friends, I was a mess. Not only was I drunk, I was a racist, a misogynist, a brawler, and a schemer. Worst of all, I was a hypocrite.”

Lucado said he wondered at the time: “Could Christ forgive a jerk like me?” A pastor’s sermon changed his life. 

“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. 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.

“To commemorate this anniversary, I got a tattoo. Tetelestai—It is finished.”

Lucado posted an image of the tattoo artist inking his arm. His post included a link to his most recent sermon where he detailed his conversion.

“Not everyone likes the idea of a 70-year-old pastor getting a tattoo. That’s ok,” Lucado said. “I didn’t do it for people, I did it to say thank you to Jesus who paid a debt I could not pay. Do you know this grace? I could care less if this truth is tattooed on your skin, but I care deeply that it be tattooed on your heart. My Good Friday prayer is simple: May Christ grant you what He has given me—grace upon grace.”

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Main featured photo credit: ©GettyImages/Paul Zimmerman / Contributor

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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