Read Reflect Google the top ten list on the Book of Proverbs and 29:18 will probably feature along with “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (3:5). Verse 18 is commonly quoted as “where there is no vision, the people perish’” from the KJV. I doubt if […]

Read Reflect Paul’s readers were worried about the technical details of the second coming of Christ, and in particular one question. What would happen to the people who died before Jesus reappeared?  Were they included in the resurrection of believers or did they somehow miss out because they died too soon? Were they in a […]

Read Reflect Yes, but when is the When coming? We are so much in love with “When,” always curious and anxious about the future, and no less so with the idea of a Jesus who is coming back. We are passionate about time in general and we want to know when Jesus is returning. For […]

Read Reflect So now we’re at the last paragraph, the Coda, the Postscript. One can imagine Paul running out of papyrus or ink now, and cramming in his final list of important things to remember and get across before he has to escape from a mob or dash off to a secret rendezvous. There’s a […]

Read Reflect So we pick up the second installment of this letter to Thessalonica and it’s as if Paul is asking, “Now, where were we?” Ah, yes, I was thanking God for you and boasting about you – that faith and love are growing bigger and better, and that steadfast suffering is proof of your […]

Read Reflect Really, I don’t even remember exactly when I first heard these words but what I cannot forget is the manner in which they pierced my soul: “when others are in the wrong we demand justice but when we are wrong we seek mercy.” How true! Whether it’s my boiling reaction to extreme Islamist […]

Read Reflect You can read this psalm as an answer to the plea of last week’s psalm (Psalm 123). Even if the problems of last week have not been solved, you can thank God in advance for what he will do. After all, “if God is on our side, can anyone be against us?” (Romans […]