AP

Christian Meditation

A Beginner’s Guide

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27

Anybody can meditate. The question is, do you want it to be meaningful or meaningless?

The Eastern form of meditation has come to be assumed in popular circles in the West to be the defining model. This has not always been the case. Meditation in the west until a generation or two ago was Christian meditation and it continues to be for millions of people around the world today. What is the chief difference?

Eastern religions like Hinduism and others have a goal of reaching some higher spiritual plain through more and more complex and involved meditation disciplines. Nevertheless, today in the West it is chiefly applied as an attempt to calm the body and mind before or after tackling daily living. The instruction is often to be physically still and find a personal mantra to repeat mindlessly to stop you thinking – to kill the brain. This is supposed to make you feel better.

This simplified approach has helped some people cope with daily stress through breathing exercises and blocking out the world by shutting down the mind. Paradoxically, some find it hard to do. This is because we are not designed to not think. Our greatest wellbeing is found not when we stop thinking but when think the best we can. This is where Christian Meditation comes in. Instead of seeking a higher plain by emptying oneself by contemplating nothing (or not thinking), Christian Meditation intentionally dwells upon a higher plain to gain something. One method is empty of ideas while the other discovers an abundance of lovely thoughts.

Ten minutes of personal meditation time is around one percent of your awake day. If you really want it to impact the remaining 99 percent of your day (or help you sleep) it needs to be rich not impoverished.

Here is a suggestion of how to meditate Christianly. Find a quiet, solitary place where you will not be interrupted. This is the end of any similarity between the two different types of meditation. Select a verse or short Bible passage. There are plenty of online resources featuring daily devotional Scripture readings. Another (and better} way of finding a verse is to take some time during the day to read a chapter of the New Testament with the intention of locating one verse from that chapter to be your next meditation piece for that evening, or for the next morning.

Read the verse to yourself a couple of times. And read it again very slowly, concentrating carefully on every single word. Consider the most important word or words to you in the text. Ask yourself, what does this tell me about God – who He is, what He says, what He does; and also what does it tell me about myself – who I am, what I say, what I think, and what I do? There will not be an answer to every one of those questions from your selected text, but there will be at least one answer. Think on that, together with the context and best word/s found in your selected verse. Mull those ideas around in your head for a little while. Use this to form a simple prayer to God. Speak the Scripture words back to Him, with any other thoughts that pop into your heart. Leave the matter with Him. Your meditation is finished, and more likely you will feel refreshed (or even motivated) rather than just calmed.

This method of meditation can be personally refined to suit each individual. There are no binding rules on how to do it. But now, rather than looking inside subjectively, you are looking outside objectively.

If Scripture disturbs you then that is a good thing. It will lead you into even better thinking. It has you thinking on the highest plain possible. You are far from being brain dead. It helps to put everything into a more realistic perspective. It is certainly worth the effort. You have never been more alive.

– Wayne Richards