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Bible Dictionaries
Reflectiveness
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or REFLECTIVENESS.—This is the habit of bending back the attention of the mind from action and experience to scrutinize and contemplate the nature and meaning of self and the world. Deep, steady reflectiveness is rare amid the extraordinary preoccupation in business of the modern world which, like briers, chokes the word. The parable of the Sower should help to restore the reflective habit to its high place among the duties and privileges of life (Matthew 13:19; Matthew 13:22). The refrain, ‘Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,’ is a direct appeal to the reflective man. The good scribe has thoughts new and old to reflect upon and dilate upon (Matthew 13:52). It is the reflective mind that appreciates the absolute truth and varied applicability of the reciprocal principle involved in Matthew 7:12 or even Matthew 7:4. Nature and experience are full of suggestive facts to reflect upon (Matthew 6:26-30; Matthew 12:12), God’s care for men being greater than for flowers, and His loving-kindness to men exceeding any shepherd’s anxiety for his sheep. John the Baptist is told to reflect upon the beneficence of his successor’s ministry (Matthew 11:4-5). Martha was ‘anxious and troubled about many things’ from which her more reflective sister Mary was privileged to be free (Luke 10:41). The Virgin Mary herself is a beautiful and pathetic example of fruitful reflectiveness (Luke 2:19; Luke 2:51). Without reflectiveness the Holy Spirit’s work of illumination and guidance could scarcely have its full and due fruit (John 14:26; John 16:13). Reflectiveness is necessary to grasp the lessons of truth as well as to sift error therefrom.
W. B. Frankland.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Reflectiveness'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/r/reflectiveness.html. 1906-1918.
