The Daily Memo

After his resurrection, Jesus sends us all out to do what he did: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20:21 NRSV). And he gives us his authority to do it: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go" (Matt. 28:18-19). Why else would he have given us his authority if we weren't supposed to use it? The attitude of so many Christians today is anything but fierce. We're passive, acquiescent. We're…

The human heart has an infinite capacity for happiness and an unending need for love, because it is created for an infinite God who is unending love. The desperate turn is when we bring the aching abyss of our hearts to one another with the hope, the plea, “Make me happy. Fill this ache.” And often out of love we do try to make one another happy, and then we wonder why it never lasts. It can’t be done. You will kill yourself trying.  We are broken,…

When difficulties arise, are you surprised that the Lord would allow them? Such thinking assumes that being an obedient believer exempts us from problems. Consider today’s passage—the disciples did exactly what Jesus said by getting into the boat and setting sail for the other side. Yet before long, they found themselves battered and tossed about by a powerful storm. Then there are other believers who automatically assume that if trouble comes, they’re the.…

Jesus’ freedom is a difficult thing to teach on for many reasons; let me name two. First, there are certain types who will hear this and find it an excuse to live as they please. Many characters in our irreverent age “don’t care what others think.” Their freedom is abrasive and unholy. The freedom Jesus models is not a crass “giving the finger to the world.” Or the church, for that matter. Others will dismiss the freedom Jesus offers out…

The new covenant has two parts to it: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). God removed your old heart when he circumcised your heart; he gives you a new heart when he joins you to the life of Christ. That's why Paul can say "count yourselves dead to sin" and "alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11). The story of the Incarnation…

Somber eyes peer out from the painting Simon of Cyrene by contemporary Dutch artist Egbert Modderman. Simon’s eyes reveal the immense physical and emotional burden of his responsibility. In the biblical account from Mark 15, we learn that Simon was pulled from the watching crowd and forced to carry Jesus’ cross. Mark tells us that Simon was from Cyrene, a big city in North Africa with a large population of Jews during Jesus’ time. Most likely Simon had…

“See that?” The clock repairman pointed his flashlight beam on a small, fine mark roughly engraved inside the old grandfather clock he was working on in our home. “Another repairman could have put that there almost a century ago,” he said. “It’s called a ‘witness mark,’ and it helps me know how to set the mechanism.” Before the age of technical bulletins and repair manuals, “witness marks” were used to help…

Paul told the Philippians that living worthy of the gospel of Christ meant fearlessness before enemies. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ . . . not frightened in anything by your opponents (Philippians 1:27-28). Then he gave the logic of fearlessness. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake (Philippians 1:29). The logic is this: God has given you two gifts, not…

Four bullets hit Pope John Paul II – two of them lodging in his lower intestine, the others hitting his left hand and right arm. This assassination attempt on the Pope in May 1981 left him severely wounded and with considerable blood loss – his health was never the same again. In July 1981, the perpetrator, Ali Ağca, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Pope John Paul II asked people to pray ‘for my brother Ağca, whom I have sincerely forgiven’. Two…