The Daily Memo

As a result of the wounds we receive growing up, we come to believe that some part of us, maybe every part of us, is marred. Shame enters in and makes its crippling home deep within our hearts. Shame is what makes us look away, so we avoid eye contact with strangers and friends. Shame is that feeling that haunts us, the sense that if someone really knew us, they would shake their heads in disgust and run away. Shame makes us feel, no, believe, that we do not measure up ;…

Take up your cross. We say it so effortlessly, so flippantly. But that’s because we read it figuratively. It’s estimated that a Roman cross weighed three hundred pounds, and even if Jesus carried only the crossbar, it was still placed on raw flesh that had just been flogged! And He carried it no less than 650 yards down the Via Dolorosa. In my book "Play the Man," I introduce seven virtues of manhood. The first virtue is tough love. Here’s what I…

There are several Scripture passages that liken God to a potter and us to clay. It’s the Creator’s right to transform and shape His children’s lives as He sees fit, and He is conforming us to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). In other words, He is helping us not conform to the world or give in to our former lusts (Rom. 12:2; 1 Pet. 1:14). The problem arises when we don’t like the molding process. Then we argue with our Potter and complain about the…

Most people don’t set out to sabotage their future, yet it can happen anyway because of their own ignorance, rebellion, or blatant disregard for God and His Word. The course of one’s entire life can be derailed by foolish errors in judgment, and future consequences can be disastrous. As Christians, we have God’s Word and His Spirit to guard and guide us, but that doesn’t make us immune to poor choices, especially in times of weakness. We’re…

Tucked into a remote gorge in western Slovenia, a secret medical facility (Franja Partisan Hospital) housed an extensive staff that tended to thousands of wounded soldiers during World War II—all the while staying hidden from the Nazis. Though avoiding detection from numerous Nazi attempts to locate the facility is in itself a remarkable feat, even more remarkable is that the hospital (founded and run by the Slovenia resistance movement) cared for soldiers from both…

Have you ever wondered why a God of love lets bad things happen to you? Or whether your past keeps Him from loving you? But just because you may feel unloved doesn’t mean that you actually are. The apostle Paul could probably relate. In today’s reading we see that he encountered hardship after hardship while following God. And his past was so checkered with sin (Acts 8:1-3; Acts 9:1-2) that he could have assumed he had good reason to feel unloved. Yet Paul kept…

I don’t recall a worship song with the word cunning in it. “Thou Art Cunning,” or “Cunning, Cunning, Cunning.” Do we interpret his actions in our lives as perhaps part of some cunning plan? That delayed answer to prayer—is there something brilliant about the timing? Would it help us to rest if we thought so? When he answers our prayers with “No,” do we see him sparing us some unseen danger? And when it comes to our own &ldquo…

Everyone experiences storms in life—occasions that bring pain, suffering, or loss. And it’s in these turbulent times that all sorts of questions come to mind: Where is God? Why has this happened? Was it something I did? Did God cause it, and if so, why? When we find ourselves in tumultuous situations, the safest place to go for answers is God’s Word. The literal storm described in today’s passage provides insight about the Lord’s role in the…

Laodicea, a rich commercial city famed for its high-quality black wool and medicinal eye ointment, was dependent for its water supply on the hot springs from Hierapolis six miles north. By the time the piped water reached Laodicea, it had become lukewarm. The stern rebuke to the Laodiceans describing them as “lukewarm” and “blind and naked” (Revelation 3:16–17) as well as Jesus’ call to repentance in verse 18 are couched in terms of these…