Thinking About It

I'm basically a lazy person, especially in the area of physical exercise.  But as I get older, regular workouts become more necessary to keep me strong and able to move around.  The same is true with the human brain:  if it receives regular workouts, it stays more limber, focuses better and keeps its memory better. Clear thinking is also important to a clear path in life; without it, we can't know how to conduct ourselves, or where we might need to change our actions.

Thinking clearly, especially about God, is work. But without it, we can't hear from God.  One of the spiritual disciplines we find practiced in the Bible is meditation, which sounds to some like daydreaming and to others like a weird practice bordering on the occult.  But the real definition of it, according to Richard Foster in his classic book Celebration of Discipline, is "the ability to hear God's voice and obey his word" (p.17).  The references in the Bible refer to placing ourselves humbly before God in repentance and submission, and "changed behavior as a result of our encounter with the living God" (p. 15). 

Jesus practiced meditation as part of his spiritual life. That guidance was crucial to him:  in John 5:19, he says "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does."  One of many places he is described as seeking time alone with the Father is Matt. 14:13.  Being away from the crowds gave him the time and freedom from distractions to hear from his Father.  And though Jesus no longer is physically present on earth, he is still active through his followers and expects us to seek him, as shown many times in the book of Acts.  

Individually, meditation is a growing, familiar relationship with God through his son Jesus, as led by the Holy Spirit's work.  It's a divine-human encounter; God-centered, not me-centered.  It is a driving force behind a healthy daily experience of God's presence and will for us.  If we don't stop to ask God "what should I do?" for our daily routine or for our emergencies and puzzles, how will we know his will?  Stopping to have an internal conversation with God about our lives is one way we can be led and corrected by God.


We can meditate while we are reading scripture; looking at the wonders of Creation; thinking over a problem we face -- and stopping to ask God's direction; during prayer, when we've said all we can say and pause for God's prompting; and many other times and ways.  It's best to avoid distractions, so we could predict that meditating in a quiet place would be more helpful than while driving!  A good way to practice meditating is to start by reading scripture and then humbly praying for God's guidance in applying it.  That's similar to what Luke says about Jesus's mother in Luke 2:19:  "Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often."

Not familiar with meditation?  Today is a good time to start. Worried you won't be good at it?  Nobody is, at first; but as we practice meditation, it becomes more a part of our daily habits and gives us strength for the day's journey.  It's worth the trouble and will give you many spiritual rewards.  Why not start today?