Meditation by the book
At a denominational meeting a few years ago, a presentation was made in which the word reconciliation was used. Afterwards, a man who was visibly agitated stood up with a question. "I hear you using the word reconciliation," he said, "and that's a word that Rick Warren also uses. Is that where you got that word?"
Due to this man's low opinion of Warren, reconciliation was now a bad word and he thought we shouldn't be using it. But there was an obvious problem with his reasoning. The word reconciliation is a word that the Bible itself uses!
We tend to do this same thing with other words as well, one of them being meditation. Growing up in a post-Beatles Christian sub-culture, the word carried only negative connotations. Meditation, as we understood it, was something practiced by other religions in an attempt to appease or discover their gods, and so we were to have nothing to do with it.
But regardless of what baggage it has taken on or your discomfort with it, if you are a follower of Christ, you should approach this idea in the way you should approach every idea, thought, or way of thinking that you encounter. You must look into God's Word to see what He has to say about it.
When we do, we see that some 58 times, the Bible uses one of the two Hebrew words that convey the idea of meditation. As it turns out, meditation, just like reconciliation, is a thoroughly biblical idea.
Psalm 1 tells us that the blessed man's delight is the law of the Lord and that he meditates on this law day and night. What does this meditation look like? Is the blessed man sitting with legs crossed, fingers intertwined, emptying his mind of all thoughts, waiting to receive a serving of 'cosmic energy?'
Nope. There is a difference between biblical meditation and other forms. Other forms of meditation seek to empty the mind; Christian meditation has as its purpose to fill the mind with the Word of God. This is not to say that there's no value in clearing our minds, but as Christians an empty mind is not the end goal.
From the moment we wake to the moment we go to sleep we are surrounded with sounds and images--distractions for our eyes, ears and of course--our minds.
Distraction is the enemy of meditation. Christian meditation is an attempt to focus intently upon the Word of God, but distraction is always seeking to pull our thoughts in a hundred different directions. We live in a culture of noise and distraction.
And in the midst of all of this--of distractions, natural disasters, wars and more--we find Psalm 46: "Be still and know that I am God."
Puritan preacher and author Thomas Watson reminds us, "Without meditation the truths which we know will never affect our hearts… As a hammer drives a nail to the head, so meditation drives a truth to the heart."
Don't avoid meditation simply because the term has been hijacked by worldly thinking. Practice meditation as God intended.
Dear Readers:
ChristianWeek relies on your generous support. please take a minute and donate to help give voice to stories that inform, encourage and inspire.
Donations of $20 or more will receive a charitable receipt.Thank you, from Christianweek.
