The Daily Memo

A little girl named Liz, was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her five-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed. The doctor explained the situation and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. He hesitated for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, ‘Yes, I’ll do it if it…

"The lion shall lay down with the lamb." Although Jesus is both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God (Revelation 5), this phrase does not appear in the Bible. Isaiah 11:6 says, "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them." Similarly, Isaiah 65:25 reads, "The wolf and the lamb will graze together and the lion will…

"Money is the root of all evil." This is a common misconception with an easy fix. 1 Timothy 6:10 actually says, "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil…" Money is not good or bad, and being wealthy is not a sin; Job was wealthy and described as a man who was "blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil" (Job 1:1). Loving money, which in the Greek is "avarice" and implies an emotional affection, is…

"In the last days, you will not be able to know the seasons except by the changing of the leaves." Even a thorough Google search will not reveal the origin of this saying, but it is not found in the Bible. Matthew 24:32-33 uses the budding of leaves heralding the coming of summer as a metaphor for the signs that Christ will return. But nowhere does the Bible mention that seasons will be so altered that only the changing leaves will identify them. "Hate the,…

As believers, we know we are to study the Bible, memorize it, and obey it. But does the Bible say what we think it says? The truth is, there are several phrases that sound like they come from the Bible, but do not. Here are a couple of them. "God helps those who help themselves." The earliest recording of this saying is actually from Aesop’s fable "Hercules and the Waggoner." A man’s wagon got stuck in a muddy road, and he prayed for Hercules…

For many around the world, life is getting lonelier. The number of Americans who have no friends has quadrupled since 1990. Certain European countries have up to 20 percent of their population feeling lonely, while in Japan, some elderly folks have resorted to crime so they can have the companionship of inmates in jail. Entrepreneurs have come up with a “solution” to this loneliness epidemic—rent-a-friend. Hired by the hour, these people will meet you in a caf;…

I was listening to a podcast today by Alan Weiss who invited a guest to join him. In Steven Gaffney’s book “Just Be Honest: Authentic Communication Strategies that Get Results and Last a Lifetime,” he emphasizes the fact that honesty is still not only the best policy; it’s the easiest and most effective way to communicate.  He goes on to say that you can use honesty as a tool to get immediate and dramatic results with anyone,…

How does God shape our character? We hate the answer but we know it to be true: affliction. If you say that God does not intend to use affliction, then what in your mind does he then use? Joy does wonderful things for our souls—it soothes, and strengthens, and heals. But joy does not transform people’s characters in the same way affliction does. You do not grow when life is good. Any parent knows this. The child wants ice cream and video games. But the child…

When God creates Eve, he calls her an ezer kenegdo. “It is not good for the man to be alone, I shall make him [an ezer kenegdo]” (Genesis 2:18 Alter). Hebrew scholar Robert Alter, who has spent years translating the book of Genesis, says that this phrase is “notoriously difficult to translate.” The various attempts we have in English are “helper” or “companion” or the notorious “help meet.” Why are these…