What We Were Created For

Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. (1 Corinthians 15:49 NLT) You’ll be made perfect. Finally, the totality of your being will be saturated only with goodness. Think of all that you’re not going to have to wrestle with anymore. The fear that has been your lifelong battle, the anger, the compulsions. No more internal civil wars; no doubt, no lust, no regret; no shame. What has plagued you these last many years? What…

If someone asked what your gifts are, what would you say? We may struggle with such questions because we either aren’t sure or don’t want to seem conceited. And sometimes it’s hard to know if something is a gift or a talent. How can we tell the difference? Generally speaking, a talent is something that you’re naturally good at—such as sports or art or science—and can excel at through training, practice, and experience. It can be a…

Think about a time when you received praise from a parent, a teacher, or an employer. How did you feel? Did it make you glad or uncomfortable? For many people, praise is nearly as difficult to handle as criticism. Because God’s Word instructs us to be humble (Matthew 18:4; Philippians 2:3), we may sometimes feel confused about how to receive compliments. Here are three ways to respond: 1. Acknowledge the comment by thanking the person. Don’t explain why you are…

Well, he created laughter. And think of the crowd he dined with. These rabble-rousers quickly earned Jesus a reputation as a drunkard and a glutton, and it wasn’t because they served water and crackers. This was a wild group, and surely such a crowd got rolling in laughter from time to time, if only from the joy they were experiencing being with Jesus. Now, surely the creator of these colorful characters didn’t sit there frowning, looking pious, Mr. Killjoy, Mr. I’m-Above-All.…

I preview the week’s obligations on my calendar first thing Monday morning, sometimes Sunday night. Mostly to get an idea of how the coming days are planned out. I’ve concluded that I’m on overload. Plain and simple, I’m overbooked. Some of it is my doing, and some of it is just life stuff that needs to be cared for. I write or borrow content each day during the week to compose the Daily Memo. I prepare well in advance to record our podcasts every 2.…

Sometimes God calls us to participate in His mission in unusual or even confusing ways. These situations might ask us to step outside of our normal manner of doing things and take a risk, give sacrificially, inconvenience ourselves, or even suffer for the sake of others. Have you ever felt called to go beyond your routine to do something extraordinary? For some Christians, this might look like answering a call to move overseas and share the gospel with unreached people.…

When you think of what Desolation looks like, picture a barren desert. Desolation wants to make everything a wasteland. So what is the opposite of a wasteland? Eden! The paradise of God, our first home, with all its lush, glorious beauty overflowing here, there, everywhere! If you follow the flow of Scripture and human history, you can see that our enemy wants to make everything a wasteland, and God wants to make everything a restored Eden. When it comes to the resilience…

Researchers at Emory University used MRI scans to study the brains of grandmothers. They measured empathetic responses to images that included their own grandchild, their own adult child, and one anonymous child. The study showed that grandmothers have a higher empathy toward their own grandchild than even their own adult child. This is attributed to what they call the “cute factor”—their own grandchild being more “adorable” than the adult.…

In 1859, Joshua Abraham Norton declared himself Emperor of the United States. Norton had made—and lost—his fortune in San Francisco shipping, but he wanted a new identity: America’s first emperor. When the San Francisco Evening Bulletin printed “Emperor” Norton’s announcement, most readers laughed. Norton made pronouncements aimed at correcting society’s ills, printed his own currency, and even wrote letters to Queen Victoria asking…