Before you add this to a cart expecting a men’s discipleship book, know what it is. Max Lucado’s He Did This Just for You: Discover God’s Promise of Salvation, Hope, and New Life is a 64-page evangelistic booklet from Thomas Nelson, published in February 2005. It is short by design, and the design matters.
What it is for
The booklet draws its stories and illustrations from Lucado’s earlier book He Chose the Nails and condenses them into a walk through the gospel, ending with an invitation to trust Christ. Thomas Nelson also sells it in 25-packs as an outreach tract. That tells you the intended use plainly enough: this is something you hand to someone who does not yet believe, not something you work through yourself over six weeks.
That is not a knock on it. A well-written 64-page gospel presentation from a writer as readable as Lucado is genuinely useful. Men who want something to leave with a coworker, a brother-in-law, or a guy in recovery have a hard time finding material that is warm without being cheap. This one is warm without being cheap.
Where the earlier version of this review went wrong
An earlier version of this page presented the booklet as a small-group resource for men’s ministry and described discussion questions inside it. We could not confirm that the booklet contains discussion questions, and given its 64-page length and its sale as an evangelistic tract, we think that description was wrong. We have removed it. If you want to verify, use the Look Inside preview on the Amazon listing before you buy for a group.
An earlier version also framed the book around three sections called The Parable, The Promise, and The Privilege. We could not verify that structure from any listing or publisher description, so we are not repeating it.
If you want the fuller book instead
The material here is compressed from He Chose the Nails, which is a full-length Lucado book on what the cross cost and what it bought. If what you actually want is something to read and sit with yourself, go to that one. Come back to He Did This Just for You when you want something to give away.
Bottom line
Buy it as a giveaway, by the pack if you are handing it out. Do not buy it expecting a study. It does the job it was built for and it does not pretend to do more.
View He Did This Just for You on Amazon