Plainfield Ponderings - Scripture Meditations

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how serious God considers defeating Satan.  It might surprise us to note that before God mentions forgiveness or a sacrifice for sins, He FIRST brings up the defeat of Satan.  Mankind not only has a problem with sin...we also have a problem with a spiritual enemy that wants us to sin.  Our of God's love for us, He has a plan.  Let's see how Jesus...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how we can truly know we are converted.  This is part 3 of a short series on being born again.  Jesus told Nicodemus you can only see the effects of wind, but the wind itself is not something tangible.  So, while we cannot tangibly see someone being born of God's Spirit, what are the effects of it?  What can we verifiably point to as evidence of our co...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the kindness and severity of God.  Paul says to do this very thing in Romans 11:22, "note then the kindness and severity of God".  Let's do that through the book of Amos.  God was so good to Israel!  He reminds them of that at the beginning of Amos.  He wasn't just good in their past, but He had been good to them even under Jeroboam II.  However, God&...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder the way we say things.  This truly matters.  The way we come across is just as powerful as the content of the message.  When food is seasoned with salt, the food content doesn't change.  It's just more palatable.  And oftentimes, the content of what we say doesn't need to change, but how we say it needs a little work.  To God be the glory! Pleas...

Send Allen a text - Ponder about how to help each other thrive with our manner of life.  We normally think of moral issues when thinking about our manner of life, but when Paul mentions it in Philippians, he has our relationship to the church on his mind.  Our relationship to the church says as much about our manner of life as morals do.  How should our relationship with the church be defined?  As...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me again about the new birth.  Last episode we begin thinking about what it means to be born again.  The first episode was about being born of water and this episode we think about the second half of that, which is born of the Spirit.  Jesus expects Nicodemus to be familiar with these ideas from the O.T.  What O.T. passages give us the idea that we'll be NEW (b...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the blessing of being able to speak.  It is something I have taken for granted all of my life.  Slowly though, I am becoming more appreciative of it because of my nephew Jack.  He is mute but is incredibly intelligent!  He has learned to communicate through spelling on a letter board.  Watching his progress and seeing his desire to speak has touched me.  With the blessin...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the new birth with me!  One of the most popular and debated statements from Jesus is about being born again.  He defines that as being born of water and the Spirit.  This episode will focus on being born of water.  Jesus expects Nicodemus to understand this from the O.T.  What information from the O.T. would have pre-figured baptism?  To God be the glory! Please email me...

Send Allen a text - Ponder what it means to lose faith.  When I think of losing faith it's normally associated with full on atheism, idolatry, etc.  Jesus challenges us to think about a loss of faith as quitting on prayer.  Right after telling a parable about persistent prayer, He asks about whether faith will be found on earth when He comes again.  In other words -- when Jesus is teaching ab...

Send Allen a text - Ponder God's character with me!  Is there anything more foundational to our faith than knowing the God we serve?  Jonah's view of God is quite heart-warming, and yet he cannot stand how God has acted with Nineveh.  What's the deal here?  Is Jonah correct in his assessment of God's character?  Is it a common feeling to be upset at Him like this?  Let's t...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the art of the parable with me.  Why did Jesus teach in parables?  He was asked that question in Matthew 13.  His response is fascinating, and it says something to us about how to deal with people who are dull of hearing (spiritually).  Have you ever wondered about someone who had almost NO religious or biblical background - where do I start with this person?  This conve...

Send Allen a text - Ponder reconciling brothers again with me.  The last lesson we did (released on January 5th) was mainly from the perspective of Onesimus...that if we have wronged others, we must go out of our way to address that.  In this lesson we look more from the perspective of being wronged.  Are we wanting to put people on probation, or forgive them?  To God be the glory! Please email me...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the faith of Abraham, seen in the Ninevites.  Jonah 3 is the story of Nineveh's repentance.  There is a unique phrase in Jonah 3 about their faith that only appears positively in a couple other instances, Abraham's faith being one of them!  What is saving faith, and do we have it?  To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at grrreeley@gmai...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the dragnet parable with me.  Matt. 13:47-50.  It's not a feel-good parable.  It's a parable of realism.  The kingdom of heaven, on earth, isn't always what it should be.  As much as we would like to get rid of all the ungodly influences within the church and be as holy and pure as God wants us to be, we cannot fully do so.  Some sins are rather hidden, bu...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the reconciliation of humans with me.  It is one of the intentions of the gospel that I haven't thought enough about.  God wants peace with Him, but also peace between humans.  The gospel should be a conduit of healing relationships.  Jesus treated this subject with the utmost seriousness.  Let's give it that kind of attention too.  To God be the glory! Please...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the new year with me!  Happy new year to everyone.  While there is not a new year's celebration in the New Testament, what did the new year look like to an Israelite?  God changed their calendar based on their salvation from slavery.  Let's think through that and the first major holiday that followed.  To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questi...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the belly of the fish with me.  God prepared a trial, and a pretty harsh one at that, for Jonah.  A near death experience (or worse?) is what Jonah needed to snap out of his hypocrisy and apathy.  What do you need?  God loves us enough to give us the trials we need to realize that sin isn't what it's cracked up to be.  Sin always disappoints...always lies...alw...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the hideous effects that hypocrisy and apathy have on others.  Sin always works its way into the lives of others.  Always.  It's why Jesus called hypocrisy the leaven of the Pharisees.  It always has a horrendous impact.  When we are hypocritical and apathetic, someone around us is suffering.  If we're asleep spiritually (as Jonah was physically and spiritually...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder Jonah together!  This will be the beginning of a new series on Jonah.  I hope it's as challenging for you as it is for me.  In Jonah, I see a Pharisee.  He ends up grumpy about the mercy the Gentiles in Nineveh receive, but also, he conveniently was okay with living the Tarshish-dream although they were as wicked as Nineveh (albeit in a different way).  A...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the solstice with me.  The winter solstice is just around the corner.  It's December 21st, the shortest day of the year.  This has made me think about Jesus being compared to the Dawn, or as He calls Himself in Revelation 22:16, "the bright morning star".  Let's think through this and why Jesus would be referring to Himself as this, at the very end of...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the anointing of perfume from Mary of Bethany with me.  Jesus said wherever the gospel is proclaimed in all the world, it would be told in memory of her.  Let's remember her together.  Her faith in what Jesus was saying about His death is remarkable, especially when you consider the refusal of others to believe it.  When people all around us won't believe the s...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the stench of Christ with me.  We'll play off of the story from the last episode about Mary from Bethany's anointing of perfume.  The perfume was to cover up the stench of death.  How did Christ's death smell to God?  How does it smell to you?  Will you carry that stench with you always, in everyday life?  And finally, how will the world perceive the odor?...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the day of judgment with me!  Several passages say we ought to be eagerly awaiting the day of judgment.  Peter even says to hasten it.  Some view the day of judgment like it's a threat, or with negativity and fear.  That's not the picture painted for the people of God.  Even in the passages where it sounds negative and scary, we should look deeper in the contex...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the book of Obadiah with me!  It was written about the Edomites, whose backstory begins with Esau.  The Israelites and Edomites were brothers.  There's an interesting law in Deuteronomy about their relationship that should have benefitted the Edomites spiritually.  That's what unity among brothers always does - it helps people grow spiritually.  Let's thin...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me two more Psalms of Thanksgiving!  These 2 will be our last for the week.  Psalm 136 is the one of the most repetitious Psalms in the book.  God's "steadfast love" is repeated 26 times - in every verse of the Psalm!  I'll try to define the term before reading this beautiful Psalm.  What a profound word!  Finally, we'll read Psalm 145 which...