Meditation: Rediscover a Spiritual Discipline
Posted: Saturday, October 25, 2008
by Mogama
http://www.mogama.info
How important is meditation? Think of it this way.
What would driving be like if there were no stop signs and traffic lights, if vehicles did not have brakes on them, if you did not refuel or service your car?
No stop signs and no traffic lights would mean chaos in the streets. Far more accidents. Many more motor vehicle deaths. No brakes on vehicles would make driving one of the most dangerous activities around. If drivers did not refuel or service their cars, most cars would be parked somewhere, rather than be in traffic on the road.
The alternative is greater stress. High anxiety levels. Embattled relations. Broken links between family and friends. More dysfunctional households. Upswing in frustrations. Frequent complaining, fussing, quarreling, fights. More burnouts. Faster wears and tears. Even greater likelihood of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, actual suicides.
There is a spiritual discipline designed to put the brakes on when you need to stop. Fill up your spiritual tank when you need new fuel. Service your soul when you're burnt out, worn out, torn up, tired, weary. Open that stress valve and drain the pressure out to a trickle. Rejuvenate your inner self and get going again with new power, new energy, that new umph. Meditation.
Meditation and Personal Development
The major difference between how I react to insults, failure and disappointment now and how I used to react can be credited to the time I have learned to spend in meditation over the years. Without meditation I am edgy, irritable, short-fused, easily stressed out, worried. Mediation has made the difference in how I manage anger, stress, anxiety. How I deal with fear. How I handle failure. How I respond to disappointment. Meditation has helped to grow my spiritual life like few other good habits I've developed.
A Different Kind of Meditation
When you hear the word "meditation" these days, you may be thinking New Age, Yoga, or Eckankar, which calls itself "The Religion of the Light and Sound of God." The Eckankar practitioner believes that s/he can use meditation to see the light of God and hear the sound of God. The basic idea is to tap into your subconscious, so your soul can travel through the act or art of meditation.
Transcendental meditation is what some people think of when they hear the term meditation. No matter which New Age form of spirituality you take, when it comes to meditation, they all emphasize how you position your body in order to chant or do certain breathing exercises in order to expand your spiritual horizon. That can be useful.
However, the idea and practice of meditation we find in the Bible is quite different from the New Age version. Biblical meditation goes far beyond body position, breathing techniques, chanting or humming, though every one of those aspects can be used in the type of meditation I'm talking about. Biblical meditation is quite simple, yet it can be so powerful. So beneficial. So life changing.
Meditation, the Biblical Version
Christians have short changed themselves by hardly exploring the practice of meditation, by leaving New Agers and Eastern religionists to be the leading practitioners and experts on meditation. It does not have to be that way. Meditation is very much a vital part of biblical faith. The prophets, the apostles, the saints of the Bible were well versed in the art of meditation.
Through meditation, many Old Testament saints became giants of true faith. Abraham heard the call of God, and God showed him the fame of his future. Isaac used to meditate at sunset; he took a quiet walk in the woods. Moses spent as many as 40 days meditating on a mountain, as he listened to God and received special instructions from the Great One. Joshua led the tribes of Israel to conquer and settle Canaan, the Promise Land, by making meditation a daily habit. Joshua meditated on the Torah, the Law of God. Through meditation, Samuel the priest, judge and prophet helped to transition Israel from a loose tribal confederacy to a unified monarchy. By meditation the Prophet Elijah heard God in a fresh new way. In a "still small voice". Through meditation, David overcame great odds and was able to shepherd the Kingdom of Israel in challenging times.
New Testament saints continued the practice of meditation. John the Baptizer gave up the soft pleasures of city life to meditate with the Qumran faith community on the banks of the Dead Sea. John the Baptizer lived on a simple diet. He didn't mind having a wardrobe of camel hair clothing. Jesus Christ, at the start of His public ministry, spent 40 days in the desert, where He meditated, encountered the evil one and won over Satan by wielding the weapon of Scriptures He had meditated on in the quiet of the wilderness. Simon Peter meditated in an upstairs room in the city of Joppa, where God showed him a vision to shatter Peter's lifelong prejudice. Without meditation the Apostle Paul could not have been so inspired to write more than half of the books found in the New Testament portion of the Christian Bible. Paul spent about three years in the Arabian Desert, probably spending much of that time in a meditative state. It was via meditation that John the Beloved received the end-time message of hope and encouragement known as the Book of Revelation.
Both in recent religious history and in our own day, the shining examples of spirituality have been meditators, if we can use or invent that word for the purpose of our discussion. Stepping in the footsteps of those saints, every follower of Jesus Christ needs to learn and practice biblical meditation. We'd do well to add meditation to our arsenal of spiritual disciplines, practices, resources.
Any Bible believer who practices biblical meditation will find that the best and brightest days of his/her personal, spiritual experiences lie not beneath the dust of the past but yet await him/her on a pedestal up yonder. And that future of spiritual bliss and boon can begin today. Enjoy your life of faith more than ever before. Enjoy spirituality to the fullest. Ready to elevate? All it takes is one practice. One discipline. We call it meditation. So meditate and elevate.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)A wonderful and exciting look at the results of biblical meditation and clear examples of what it is not; but I don't think at any point the writer truly stated what biblical meditation is and how developing Christians who desire to grow spiritually, can actually practice it in their lives.Yes, Jo, you are right. This is the first in the series of articles on the subject. I hope your points will be addressed in subsequent articles. One article will focus on the very term "meditation" as used in the Holy Scriptures. Another article will address the "how to" of biblical meditation. I'll also discuss the key biblical text on meditation. Thanks for your comment. ~mogama~
Yes, I believe this. In fact, I find it very difficult and somehwhat pointless to try and concentrate on nothing.But relaxation techniques are useful and prove to lower blood pressure. However, I believe that the same relaxation can be experienced by reading the teachings of Jesus, that only promote goodness. Taking these things into your heart will inevitably instill a positive focus to your day and help you get along better with others.Regular meditation has made me a better person mentally and emotionally. It helps keep me balanced. Frankly, I might lose my mind if I did not meditate on Scripture regularly. Thanks for your input, Jennifer. I always appreciate your opinion. ~mogama~
I try to make it a habit to read the Bible and mediate on the things I have read. I find that these are times of refreshing and encouragement.
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