Tuesday 29 December 2009

Why Christians Should Meditate

Christians should meditate because God wants us to. Meditation has been part of the worship of Yahweh long before Buddhism appeared on the scene. Throughout scripture we are encouraged to 'think on these things', 'consider', 'meditate' and muse. For example:

Psa 143:5  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 
1Ti 4:15  Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 
Psa 119:48  My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes. 

Meditation can be as simple as reading a portion of scripture and then thinking about what it means to you, in the context of your life, to pray for understanding, to ask God to interpret it to you. You could take a scripture, a truth, and purposely remember it throughout the day, not in order to be able to repeat it as a 'memory verse' but in order that it may sink into your inner being, your subconscious and your mind.

When a person believes in Jesus as their saviour their spirit becomes a new creation, perfect, and seated with Jesus in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) but their mind needs to be renewed, constantly. Meditation on the Word of God changes the way we think, renews our mind and gets our conscious and subconscious 'in line' with our redeemed spirit. When our spirit and our mind are in agreement our flesh, or actions, begin to do what we think; Pro 23:7  For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: . So over time the whole person aligns with the will of God, spirit, soul and body. 

If we think of ourselves as a 'channel of blessing' from God to the world (we are, after all, a kingdom of priests Rev. 1:6, 5:10) then as we are properly aligned so the blessing will flow from our spirit, seated in the heavens with Christ, through our soul (mind and emotions) to our body and to others and, in fact, all we come into contact with, our work etc.. The English standard Version translates Mark 16:15  thus; And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. The whole creation surely includes your work, home, property and neighbourhood. You are the proclamation of the gospel, not just by what you say but by who you are and are becoming. All this is achieved through meditation on the scriptures.

To help you, here is a link to some meditations Mediword