The New Man in the Mirror Bible Study

Righteousness Exalts a Nation | Proverbs 14:19–35 — Ep 26

newmimbiblestudy — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:24:10 GMT

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

You have definitely heard that verse. Let's talk about it.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

The Verse Everybody Preaches Wrong | Proverbs 14:1–18 — Ep 25

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 18:36:27 GMT

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."

Most of us have heard that preached as a verse about a guy kidding himself. Let's talk about what it actually says.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

Walk With the Wise | Proverbs 13:13–25 — Ep 24

newmimbiblestudy — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 18:45:49 GMT

"He who walks with the wise grows wise."

Two verses in this passage ask the same question. Let's talk about it.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

The Long Middle of Something | Proverbs 13:1–12 — Ep 23

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 17:31:07 GMT

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick."

Some of you are in the long middle of something. Let's talk about it.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

Reckless Words Pierce Like a Sword | Proverbs 12:15–28 — Ep 22

newmimbiblestudy — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:33:41 GMT

"Reckless words pierce like a sword."

Ever have trouble blurting things out and need somewhere in the Bible that talks about it? Here you go.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

Your Bible Calls You Stupid | Proverbs 12:1–14 — Ep 21

newmimbiblestudy — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:02:13 GMT

"He who hates correction is stupid."

If you read that and immediately gave yourself an excuse, it may be you. Let's talk about it.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

The Giver Gains; The Hoarder Loses | Proverbs 11:16–31 — Ep 20

newmimbiblestudy — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 20:01:08 GMT

"One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty."

That sounds like bad math. Let's talk about it.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

God Hates a Rigged Scale | Proverbs 11:1–15 — Ep. 19

newmimbiblestudy — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:16:41 GMT

"The LORD abhors dishonest scales."

That verse has never once been quoted at a men's retreat. Here's why it should be.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

The Fortress You Think You're Building | Proverbs 10:15–32 — Ep. 18

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 19:30:00 GMT

Notice what verse 15 doesn't say. It doesn't say the rich man is safe. It doesn't say his wall is fake. It says he has a city — walls, gates, the whole thing — and it says it flatly, with no comment. Solomon is describing what money feels like from the inside. And then fourteen verses later he builds a second fortress, and this one belongs to somebody else: "The way of the LORD is a refuge for the righteous."

Two walls in one chapter. Every man is standing behind one of them right now, and here's the problem Ryan and Brett work through in this episode: from the inside, they feel exactly the same.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

Two Kinds of Men, One Line at a Time | Proverbs 10:1–14 — Ep. 17

newmimbiblestudy — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 19:30:00 GMT

Last episode left a man standing in the street between two houses, with two women shouting word-for-word identical invitations at him. And then the story just stops.

You turn the page expecting chapter 10 to tell you which door he picked. Instead you get this: "A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother." One line. Then another one. Then another one, about three hundred and seventy-five times.

This is where most men who try to read Proverbs quit.

In this episode Ryan and Brett cross the seam into the second movement of the book, and Ryan makes the case that the genre change isn't the book losing the thread. It's the book handing you the thread.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

Both Doors Say the Same Thing | Proverbs 9:1–18 — Ep. 16

newmimbiblestudy — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:30:00 GMT

Two women. Two houses. Two invitations. And the part that should bother you: they say exactly the same thing.

Verse 4 and verse 16 of Proverbs 9 are word for word identical. "Let all who are simple come in here." Wisdom says it. Folly says it. Same sentence, same street corner, same audience, same volume. If you were listening from down the block with your back turned, you could not tell which house it came from.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

The Universe Was Built by Delight | Proverbs 8:22–36 — Ep. 15

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 19:30:00 GMT

Before there were oceans, wisdom was there. Before there were mountains, before there was a single grain of dust on the earth, wisdom was already beside God.

That's the claim in the back half of Proverbs 8, and it is the summit of the whole first section of the book. In this episode Ryan and Brett walk through it — the origin hymn, the controversy it caused, and the surprisingly ordinary place it lands.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

Wisdom Shouts in the Daylight | Proverbs 8:1–21 — Ep. 14

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:14:37 GMT

Last week a woman worked a street corner at dusk, in the shadows, with a whisper.

This week another woman climbs to the highest point in the city, plants herself at the busiest intersection, and she does not whisper. She shouts. Same city. Same men. Opposite hour, opposite volume, opposite destination.

In this episode Ryan and Brett open Proverbs 8, the high point of the first nine chapters and one of the great poems in the Old Testament.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

Your Sin Has an Address | Proverbs 7:1–27 — Ep. 13

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:00:14 GMT

The father in Proverbs 7 does something he does nowhere else in the book. He walks to the window, pulls back the lattice, and says: let me show you something I watched happen.

Then he narrates it. A young man crosses the street at dusk. He turns at her corner. He takes the road toward her house. Just like a dumb ox.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

Every Man Thinks He's the Exception | Proverbs 6:20–35 — Ep. 12

newmimbiblestudy — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:46:38 GMT

Can a man carry fire against his chest and his shirt not burn?

Everybody knows the answer. That's exactly why the father asks it. In Proverbs 6 he doesn't argue that adultery is wrong — he assumes his son already knows. Instead he asks a physics question, and then tells him that sleeping with another man's wife runs on the same law as fire. It isn't that you might get burned. Fire burns. That's what it does.

In this episode Ryan and Brett work through the second of the three faithfulness lectures, and they start where the father starts, which is not where most sermons start.

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

Things God Actually Hates | Proverbs 6:1–19 — Ep. 11

newmimbiblestudy — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:59:11 GMT

Most men have heard that there are seven things God hates. Almost nobody has been told which one He saves for last.

In this episode Ryan and Brett walk Proverbs 6:1–19, where the book breaks off the long warning about temptation and gets strangely practical. Don't guarantee a debt you can't cover. Don't sleep through your life. Don't become the man nobody can trust.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

Nobody Plans the Affair | Proverbs 5:1–23 — Ep. 10

newmimbiblestudy — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:37:20 GMT

Almost nobody wakes up one morning and decides to blow up his marriage.

That's not how it happens. It starts with a text that runs a little warm. A lunch that runs a little long. A door left open one inch. Proverbs 5 is a father who has watched enough men fall to know exactly how it works, and he walks his son right up to the edge and makes him look all the way down.

In this episode Ryan and Brett work through the whole chapter, and they follow it to real practical conclusions for men.

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

#proverbs #biblestudy #wisdom

You Cannot Fix a River Downstream | Proverbs 4:20–27 — Finding Your Compass, Ep. 9

newmimbiblestudy — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 21:00:20 GMT

Most men are guarding the wrong thing.

There's a camera on the doorbell, a password on the phone, a code on the garage, insurance on everything in the driveway. We are the most guarded generation of men who ever lived. And Proverbs 4 says there is one assignment that outranks all of them, and most of us leave it completely unwatched.

In this episode Ryan and Brett work through the last lecture of Proverbs 4, the passage that gives us verse 23: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

Hosts:
Ryan Reeves — PhD, Cambridge; historian and theologian
Brett Clemmer — President and CEO, Man in the Mirror

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

The Bible's Oldest Description of Addiction | Proverbs 4:10–19 — Finding Your Compass. Ep. 8

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:49:38 GMT

Nobody chooses ruin. No man stands at his front door and announces, "Today I begin destroying my life." And yet lives get destroyed every day. Proverbs 4 explains how: ruin isn't a decision, it's a road. You just keep walking.

Ryan and Brett take the two-paths passage, where the father shows his son both roads all the way to the horizon, because the only honest way to judge a road is by where it ends.

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

Get Wisdom, Whatever It Costs | Proverbs 4:1–9 — Finding Your Compass, Ep. 7

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:40:00 GMT

Ask a man what his father taught him and watch his face. Some can quote him word for word, forty years later. Some go quiet, because the answer is nothing.

Proverbs 4 is the only place in the book where we hear a grandfather, a father quoting his own father to his sons. Three generations, nine verses.

The command at the center gets repeated four times: get wisdom. And the Hebrew word for "get" is the word for buying property — Boaz buys a field with it, Abraham buys a grave. Wisdom isn't absorbed by growing up in a good home. It has to be bought. Verse 7 even names the price: though it cost all you have.

A godly heritage isn't a trust fund. Every son has to buy the field again in his own name.

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

The Wisdom That Hung the Planets | Proverbs 3:13–35 — Finding Your Compass, Ep. 6

newmimbiblestudy — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 21:45:56 GMT

The same wisdom God used to hang the planets and set the oceans in place is the wisdom meant to teach you how to treat the man who lives next door.

In this episode Ryan and Brett work through the back half of Proverbs 3, and they follow the passage on the strange descent it makes on purpose. It starts at the price of wisdom, worth more than silver, gold, and rubies put together. It climbs to the founding of the cosmos. And then it lands somewhere almost embarrassing. Pay the man what you owe him, on time. Don't tell your neighbor to come back tomorrow when you have it with you today.

CONNECT WITH MAN IN THE MIRROR
Website: maninthemirror.org
Newsletter: maninthemirror.org/subscribe

The Famous Verse We Never Actually Read | Proverbs 3:1–12 — Finding Your Compass, Ep. 5

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:45:25 GMT

Proverbs 3:5 might be the most quoted sentence in the whole Bible. It is on coffee mugs, graduation cards, and the wall of half the gyms in America. Most of us could recite it from memory and still not say what it actually asks of us.

In this episode Ryan and Brett take the third of Solomon's father-to-son talks and slow down on the line everybody knows by heart. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. The Hebrew word for trust is not about believing something is true. It is about putting your full weight on it. A man can believe a chair will hold him while he is standing next to it. Trust is sitting down.

This is dialogue Bible teaching for working men. Ten minutes. No filler.

ABOUT THE SHOW
The New MIM Bible Study is the new flagship teaching podcast from Man in the Mirror. Dialogue format, scripture-anchored, built for working men who want serious Bible teaching they can actually finish on a drive, a workout, or a coffee break.

Why Men Dig for Silver but Not Wisdom | Proverbs 2:1–22 — Finding Your Compass, Ep. 4

newmimbiblestudy — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 21:38:30 GMT

Tell a man there's a hundred thousand dollars buried in his backyard and he'll be out there with a shovel before sunrise. Tell him wisdom is worth more and he'll get to it someday. Proverbs 2 sits on that gap and won't let it go.

In this episode Ryan and Brett walk through the second of Solomon's father-to-son talks, a single long sentence in Hebrew that works like a map of everything coming later in the book. The chapter makes a hard promise and attaches a real price. Look for wisdom the way you'd hunt for treasure, and you'll find something better than principles. You'll find the knowledge of God himself.

This is dialogue Bible teaching for working men. Ten minutes. No filler.

The Wrong Crew | Proverbs 1:8–19 — Finding Your Compass, Ep. 2

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:20:34 GMT

Every man wants to belong to something. The question Proverbs is going to ask, before it asks anything else, is: who's offering you a seat at the table...and what does the table cost?

Dr. Ryan M. Reeves and Brett Clemmer walk into Proverbs 1:8–19 and the warning isn't what you'd expect. Solomon doesn't lead with sex, or money, or even God. He leads with the crew.

Because every man, at every age, gets recruited. The teenager into the gang. The thirty-five-year-old into the work clique that cuts corners. The fifty-year-old into the country-club table that's slowly normalizing what he wouldn't have accepted ten years ago. The pull is never the bad behavior. The pull is the belonging.

The men who set the trap are setting it for themselves. This is dialogue Bible teaching for working men. Ten minutes. No filler.

Where Wisdom Actually Starts | Proverbs 1:1–7 — Finding Your Compass, Ep. 1

newmimbiblestudy — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 22:12:48 GMT

"Most men can solve a problem at work in fifteen minutes that they can't solve at home in fifteen years." That's where this show starts.

Dr. Ryan M. Reeves and Brett Clemmer crack open Proverbs 1:1–7, the seven verses that hold the rest of the book together, and ask the question every grown man eventually has to answer: where does wisdom actually start?

Solomon doesn't bury the lead. He hands it to you in verse 7. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Once you know what those words actually mean in the Hebrew, the whole book opens up.

This is episode one of Finding Your Compass, a season-long walk through Proverbs. Ryan brings the textual work, Brett brings it back to your Monday morning, and the two of them work through what it actually looks like for a competent, capable man to put himself back in his proper size and start over from the right starting line.

Wisdom Is Shouting | Proverbs 1:20–33 — Finding Your Compass, Ep. 3

newmimbiblestudy — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Almost every man I know who has wrecked his life has a moment he can name when he heard the warning and ignored it. He didn't miss it. He just thought he had more time.

Dr. Ryan M. Reeves and Brett Clemmer step into Proverbs 1:20–33, the first time Wisdom herself speaks in the book. She isn't whispering. She's standing in the loudest, busiest, most consequential place in town. The city gate. The market. The corner of the noisy street. And she's shouting at every man walking by.

What she says is hard. She invites. She indicts. And in verse 26, she says one of the most uncomfortable lines in the Bible: "I also will laugh at your calamity.

Brett and Ryan work through what it actually means that Wisdom is the structure of the world God made, and why the man who keeps saying "later, later, later" eventually finds that "later" has run out.

This is dialogue Bible teaching for working men. Ten minutes. No filler.