Where Is My Mind?

WHY CHRISTIANS NEED MEDITATION

Empty your mind…Well, I’m going to be here awhile. I suggest you don’t stick around because there’s going to be some nasty stuff that I will be drudging up out of the depths of my mind if I’m going to empty it.

Mainstream meditation is all about sitting still, attempting to empty your mind, and focusing on yourself to better yourself. It has become a widespread trend in our culture. Everywhere from kindergarten classrooms to universities, workplaces, and app stores offer a plethora of ideas on what meditation is and how it should be done. The popular thought isn’t wrong. You can, in fact, dramatically change your life through meditation, but it must be meditation on the right thing.

What is Medication?

Biblical meditation focuses your mind on God, His attributes and character, and His Word. It means to think deeply about the truths of scripture and soak in every word so that your life becomes saturated by it. Instead of emptying your mind of everything, or focusing on how you feel, meditation for the Christian is to fill your mind with God and focus on Him. That might sound a bit out there, or like it is only necessary for the spiritually elite, but it is a vital part of life for every Christian.

Before you start thinking that this is just another thing to add to a spiritual checklist and start coming up with excuses for why you don’t have time for it, here are some things to ponder: do you find it burdensome to think about, obsess over, and fill your mind with other things? How about the things you desire, love, or fear? If you genuinely love God, you’ll naturally want to think about Him and think deeply about what He says to you. Just like re-reading that DM your crush sent you for the twentieth time (Come on, I know you’ve done it).

If you genuinely love God, you’ll naturally want to think about Him and think deeply about what He says to you.

Meditation Moves Us

When I let my mind run wild, I eventually become anxious, fearful, or depressed. My mind naturally runs to selfish, impure, or false things, which leads me not to trust God. I am far less likely to do what He says when I don’t trust Him. God tells us instead to meditate on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, good, virtuous, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). When I focus on these things, I think less about myself and more about God. I begin to trust Him more, which leads me to live my life in obedience to His directions. This is not God’s way of boosting His ego by getting everyone to focus on Him. (He never gets an ego boost from what we think of Him anyway.) Nor is this some superficial “just think positive” scheme. Biblical meditation is not the end goal. Instead, it is to be a springboard for living out our faith in a radical way.

In the Old Testament, God called Joshua into leading His people, the Israelites, and told him about all the lands he would conquer. It was an epic start to the rest of Joshua’s life of following God. Joshua goes on to fight giants and have great military victories. He is faithful to God in significant ways. How? God commands him in Joshua 1:8, “The law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success…for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” By keeping God’s words to him always in his thoughts, he was able to apply them in his daily life, proving his faith in God in these epic ways. God desires the same for your life.

Where to Begin

Biblical meditation will take some discipline, but it is also a delight. It takes discipline because meditation is rewiring your brain to bring it more and more in line with how God thinks. Not in an esoteric “become one with a higher power” sense, but by gaining a real, practical understanding of how God thinks and feels about a situation. This is done by a careful, prayerful, and intentional study of what God says in the Bible. Here are just a few tips to get you started:

PRAY

You need God’s help in everything, and definitely in this. There is a battle raging continuously in your mind for what or who gets your attention. Go to the battle armed.

SET ASIDE TIME

Try to be consistent in having some uninterrupted time, quiet and alone with God each day, but don’t box yourself in to meditate only then. The Bible says to meditate day and night, which means this should be done all hours of the day.

PAUSE

When you’re reading something in the Bible, stop and think about it in different ways. Take time to think about each word. Ask yourself questions about it, and let your mind ponder for a while.

REMEMBER

Don’t just leave your thoughts of God like a bookmark shoved in your Bible when it closes. Think back to the truths you read about throughout the day and listen for how God is speaking to you through it in your daily life.

SING

Be on the lookout for good songs that center on Scripture or quote the Bible directly. Singing is a great way to remember verses so you can think about them throughout the day.

“Let my mind be made new. Let my heart be set on You. Let my words flow from You, God. Let my life be found in You” 

-Aaron Strumpel, A Mighty Refuge (Guard My Heart)