The Daily Memo

Paul spent years serving Christ, yet he experienced continual suffering. It doesn’t seem fair, does it? Why would God let him go through so much pain? It’s a question many of us ask today about ourselves. We think the Lord should protect us from hardships, but He doesn’t always do so. Maybe our reasoning is backward. We think faithful Christians don’t deserve to suffer, but from God’s perspective, suffering is part of being a Christian. If we…

Lean food rations, waterproof boots, and a map are some of the essentials carried by hikers on the John Muir Trail. The John Muir Trail is a 211-mile path in the western United States that winds across creeks, around lakes and woods, and up and over mountains, encompassing 47,000 feet of elevation gain. Because traversing this trail takes about three weeks, carrying the right amount of supplies is critical. Too much and you will run out of strength to carry it all; too…

A monk named Telemachus lived a quiet life, but his death at the end of the fourth century changed the world. Visiting Rome from the East, Telemachus intervened in the blood sport of the gladiatorial arena. He jumped over the stadium wall and tried to stop the gladiators from killing each other. But the outraged crowd stoned the monk to death. The emperor Honorius, however, was moved by Telemachus’ act and decreed the end of the 500-year practice of gladiator games.…

Have you ever thought, I can’t take this anymore or I give up? These phrases have the power to change the direction of our life. Let’s look at three things that could cause these sentiments. Satan and his angels. Through their involvement, we can be tempted to stop waiting on God for solutions and instead seek our own way out. Or the enemy may try to redirect our focus away from Jesus and onto our negative emotions. If he can make us feel helpless and hopeless,…

We’ve all occasionally fallen for a lie, whether it was something as trivial as false advertising or as serious as a scam that emptied a bank account. Whatever the trickery was, it can be traced back to the Father of Lies—Satan (John 8:44). And his most devastating deceptions are those that lead us into sin. This is why it’s vital to understand the devil’s pattern of deceit, which goes all the way back to the garden of Eden. Satan’s first move…

There are actually only a handful of accounts of Jesus’ getting good and mad in the Gospels, which is surprising given how much provocation he was provided. In fact, the specific Greek word for “angry” is used only once to describe him, and where does he happen to be at that moment? Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see…

In 2020, Alyssa Mendoza received a surprising email from her father in the middle of the night. The message had instructions about what to do for her mother on her parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary. Why was this shocking? Alyssa’s father had passed away ten months earlier. She discovered that he’d written and scheduled the email while he was sick, knowing he might not be there. He’d also arranged and paid for flowers to be sent to his wife for…

In the years that followed the Fall and our exile from Eden, mankind got worse and worse. Cain killed Abel; Lamech threatened to kill everybody else. The wickedness of the human heart seemed out of control and unstoppable, even by the curses. People were living for seven, eight, even nine hundred years. Can you imagine the arranging that one person could accomplish with that sort of time on his hands? Stubbornness seems to come with old age. Haven't you heard your…

You may be familiar with the story of Mary and Martha, the two sisters who eagerly welcomed Jesus into their home. Like many of us, Martha busied herself with tasks and preparations, ensuring that the Lord would be served well. Meanwhile Mary sat with Jesus and listened to Him. He eventually said to Martha, “You are worried and distracted by many things; but only one thing is necessary” (Luke 10:41-42). None of Martha’s tasks were inherently bad, and Jesus didn&rsquo…