Read Reflect In our postmodern society, we have a tendency to believe that truth is relative. So then, believing, “what is true for me may not be true for another” actually becomes quite easy to adhere to. This way of thinking affirms that no truth is absolute and that all truth is relative. Truth is […]
Read More revelation, Relative truth, absolute truth, interpretationThis proverb is a prayer to the Lord that reveals certain aspects of our human nature. The author has two prayers that are intertwined. First of all, he prays for the moral fortitude to be a man of integrity, then he requests to be preserved from the circumstances that could jeopardize that moral integrity.
Read More self-sufficiency, poverty, integrity, confidence, dependence, RichesRead Reflect Have you ever heard someone tattle about one of the employees to a person in authority? The comment could have been made to you or even made about you to the boss. I have personally experienced this type of situation in my professional career when I was a director at a company that […]
Read More forgiveness, understanding, criticism, gossip, grace, judgmentThese words were written a long time ago at a time when the author’s environment was markedly different from ours. In spite of all these differences and all the changes that have occurred over the past centuries, what Agur describes here clearly shows that the heart of man has not really changed at all.
Read More weakness, hypocrisy, greed, respect, oppression, exploitation, deprived, rébellion, pride, righteousness, haughtinessRead Reflect The text that we just read introduces us to some illustrations drawn from the natural world. These are all examples of things that are never sufficient, are never satisfied, forever insatiable and which always want to receive. The author basically wants to illustrate the behaviour of human kind. It is part of human […]
Read More contentment, dissatisfaction, covetingRead Reflect We sometimes hear the expression, “the eyes are the mirror of the soul,” the soul, as we understand it, being the seat of our emotions and our reflective capability. It goes without saying that it is often our eyes that transmit to others our true feelings and attitudes. Love or scorn, acceptance or rejection, approval […]
Read More rébellion, faith, eyes, family lifeRead Reflect What is the author trying to accomplish by comparing these four things? The least we can say is that the point he wants to stand out is really not that evident at all. So then, what can we observe in this comparison between things that are so fundamentally different? What, if anything, do […]
Read More negative influences, wiles of the devilRead Reflect There is a striking contrast between this verse and the last line of the previous verse (verse 19), where the love between a man and a woman is presented as a mysterious path. Certainly no mystery here, no wonderment, no commitment, no pleasure and in addition, no admission of guilt. In fact, this […]
Read MoreRead Reflect In reading the description of the above people and their actions, what strikes us first of all is the fact that these situations are in no way normal. Yet, they call to mind situations that we may have noticed around us. The slave who becomes a king could possibly be a co-worker, a […]
Read More arrogance, self-examination, ambition, disruption
Paul is addressing a church that that he had not founded, nor even visited. He longed to visit and teach believers in Rome in person, but he had so far been prevented because he had been so busy preaching the gospel in places where Christ was not yet known. Paul’s agenda consisted simply of fulfilling the mandate that he received from the Lord.
Read More priorities, urgent