Agape Devotions

READ : Song of Songs 6:4-8:14   Verses chosen for meditation: Song of Songs 8:4 4  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,     that you not stir up or awaken love     until it pleases. REFLECT As we conclude Song of Songs, some of us may still be bewildered by the inclusion of ancient love poetry in the Bible. With all its interpretations, what’s largely agreed is that love is a gift from God, meant for us to enjoy, and its racy expressions approved within marriage. It reminds us of what being human means. However, if we do not enjoy this gift under God’s intended premise, it could bring us a world of hurt. This reminds us of lyrics from Ed Sheeren’s song, “Photograph”: “Loving can hurt … but it's the only thing that makes us feel alive.” In the last chapter, we see that love can be life-giving, but can also be a dangerous thing when abused (Song of Songs 8:6-7). As it can hurt like flashes of fire, love is not something to b...

  Read Song of Songs 5:2 - 6:3 Verses chosen for meditation (Song of Songs 5:2-6) 2  I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love,     my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew,     my locks with the drops of the night.” 3  I had put off my garment;     how could I put it on?       I had bathed my feet;     how could I soil them? 4  My beloved put his hand to the latch,     and my heart was thrilled within me. 5  I arose to open to my beloved,     and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh,     on the handles of the bolt. 6   I opened to my beloved,     but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; ...

Read   Read Song of Songs 4:1 - 5:1 Verse chosen for meditation: Song of Solomon 4:9 ESV You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.   Reflect   Is sexual intimacy necessarily a bad word?   How would you then describe your portrait of love?   What are some of the signs of intimacy from this passage?   Relate   Intimacy is a derivative of the Latin word 'intimus', meaning "innermost" or "deepest". In its simplest form, intimacy is the degree of closeness of the bond that exists between two persons, or more correctly, two lovers.   Taken in this context, the Song of Solomon is often preached as a book about marriage. Many, however, believe that the Song of Solomon is in fact an allegory for the love that Christ has for his bride.   To start off, we need to shrug off any puritanical view that we mig...

READ: SONGS 2:8-3:11   TEXT TO REFLECT: SONGS 3:1-5  On my bed at night, I sought him whom my soul loves;     I sought him, but found him not. 2 I will rise now and go about the city,     in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.     I sought him, but found him not. 3 The watchmen found me     as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” 4 Scarcely had I passed them     when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go     until I had brought him into my mother's house,     and into the chamber of her who conceived me. 5 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,     by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love     until it pleases. REFLECT This passage narrates how deep the girl's longing for her lover was. She was in bed but her lover was nowhere to be found (was this just a dre...

Read: Song of Songs 1-2:7 No devotionals (Sunday)

Catch up on your readings day. We will be starting the Song of Songs on Sunday, to prepare yourself for this beautiful but somewhat difficult to interpret book of the Bible, please go through this video overview to the Song of Songs by Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/song-songs/

READ : Ecclesiastes 12:9-14   Verses chosen for meditation: Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 13  The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. REFLECT The preacher started the book with the futility of life, through the lens of a person going through life without an eternal perspective. He brought up observable facts of life familiar to all, to answer the question of whether God matters, not whether He exists. Now at the book’s conclusion, the answer to that question is obvious in its closing verses, giving insight into the meaning of life, and how to approach life. The premise set for much of the book is common to many, one where people question the purpose of their toiling, pulling their hairs out over where it all leads to. It is one where people lament about the brevity of life an...

READ : Ecclesiastes 11:9 -12:8 “Not vanity if .. ”. Verses chosen for meditation: Ecclesiastes 11:9 and 12:1. 9  Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 12  Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;     REFLECT The great Teacher kickstarted the topic of youth to old age in these two chapters. He first exhorted the young to remember his Creator (12:1). He conveyed that young people could enjoy life while they can, but with a boundary; that is not to enjoy sin. Solomon went on to list various metaphors to describe the physical decline of old age - trembling hands, weakened muscles, failing eyesight, e...

Read Ecclesiastes 11:1-8 Verse chosen for meditation: Ecclesiastes 11: 4, 5 ESV: He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. Reflect Do we look for signs before starting a project? Are we those who are guided by signs? What about our thoughts on investments? Do we need to see real tangible results? In all of this, how is God factored? How big a role does he play? Is he a primary or secondary player? Relate My take on Ecclesiastes is that it's all about time and timing. It’s about how we see the times of our life and read the signs. It’s about the returns we expect at the end of the day and what really matters at the end. Twenty years ago, I would have given this book a wide berth. Back then, the whole concept of time felt rather depressing to me because of the inevitable loss of loved ones with i...

  TEXT TO REFLECT  I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. ECCLESIASTES 9:13-16 REFLECT The great Teacher in this passage sought to highlight the following observations: the 'victim' was a small city with few men; the invading force was ruled by a great king (implying that it came with a great number of troops) equipped with a large number of sophisticated tools and weapons ('great siegeworks'). This is akin to the story of David and Goliath - a small and ill-equipped victim prevailing against a very strong adversary. Despite the disparity of power, the s...

Read: Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 No devotional today (Sunday)

Read: Ecclesiastes 8 Verses chosen for meditation 8:12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God. Reflect: There are times when Ecclesiastes read like the lament of a King who does not know God. Yet, when we reach the second half of Ecclesiastes, we got to know that the Preacher was someone who not only know God but fear Him as well.  This is made evident by Ecclesiastes 8:12-13, where the Preacher recognised that while the wicked can do all sorts of things and seems to get away with it, it is always better for the righteous. For the fear of God is the key to living well. Fearing God here means "to fear before him". It means to put God first.  It means to consider the ways of God before anything is done or decisions made. It means to know tha...