What do you think about all day? Our minds are bombarded with stimuli, radio, podcasts, tv, and all types of communication. So much so that we hardly have a moment’s peace. Our minds race back and forth from work to family, neighbors, to a to-do list. Our minds simply never stop. No wonder we are stressed out. God has a plan to keep our minds engaged healthily – if we would only mediate on His word.
Psalm 119:97 states, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.”
Mediation has been God’s plan for us as a spiritual discipline. One sad fact about mediation in our society today is that it is too closely associated with eastern mysticism. Even among believers, meditation is more associated with yoga, transcendental meditation, relaxation therapy, or some New Age practice. Because mediation is so commonly practiced in non-christian groups, it makes Christians hesitate and a little skeptical about engaging in these practices. We need to remind ourselves that mediation is commanded by God and practiced by godly men and women in the scriptures. For every divine principle, there is an ungodly counterfeit. Mediation is just one of them.
The type of mediation we see in the Bible differs from non-christian mediation. Some mediation focuses on emptying your mind. Biblical mediation encourages you to focus on God, the Bible, and His truth. Other mediations focus on passivity, but Biblical mediation requires constructive mental engagement. Worldy mediation requires visual techniques – trying to create your own reality of peace and harmony, while biblical mediation focuses on fact, realism, and what is true.
My life verse is Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
So for future reference, let’s define mediation as deep thinking on the truths in the Bible or on life’s circumstances from a scriptural perspective for understanding, application, and prayer.
The Bible connects success with mediation in Joshua 1:8, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” The mediation we are talking about here is not to just think about a verse once and then forget it, but to continually review it in your mind until it becomes such a part of you that your behavior changes. One thing to note here is that success and prosperity are in God’s eyes, not man’s. Prosperity for our souls and God’s kingdom is the true success that we strive for.
