MEDITATION:
Written by Joyce Huggett (1937-2017), an author, speaker, and broadcaster. She is considered to be a modern pioneer in the area of contemplative spirituality.
“Meditation” is another word…people often use about prayer. But Christian meditation must not be confused with yoga, Eastern meditation or transcendental meditation. For, unlike these disciplines, Christian meditation has nothing to do with emptying our minds. Christian meditation engages every part of us—our mind, our emotions, our imagination, our creativity, and supremely, our will. As Archbishop Anthony Bloom puts it, “Meditation is a piece of straight thinking under God’s guidance.” Yet it is not the same as an academic study of the Scriptures…Christian meditation involves not emptiness, but fullness. It means being attentive to God. The purpose of this attentiveness, this reflecting and pondering is, among other things, to see ourselves in the light of God’s revealed word—just as Jesus weighed each of Satan’s subtle temptations against the teaching of the Old Testament. We meditate to give God’s words the opportunity to penetrate, not just our minds, but our emotions—the places where we hurt—and our will—the place where we make choices and decisions. We meditate to encounter the Living Word, Jesus himself. We meditate so that every part of our being, our thoughts, our affections, and our ambitions, are turned to face and honor and glorify him. Yet another reason for learning to meditate is so that we become conversant with the will of God.
PRAYER:
Written by Erwin Lutzer, a contemporary pastor, theologian, broadcaster, and author.
Father, give us the discipline to meditate in Your Word, “day and night.” Help us to take Your Word into our minds just as we take food into our bodies. Teach us to hide Your Word in our hearts that we might not sin against You. Help us to not succumb to the path of least resistance, but have the discipline we need to follow through with our good intentions. May we be motivated by our loving relationship with You. Amen.
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