Introduction to Christian Meditation
Good morning. It’s been a while.
This month I finished up my Masters program at Liberty University. While I had hoped to maintain this newsletter during the program, between work and family there just wasn’t enough time. One benefit of taking this long between posts is that I have a lot to share with you.
My plan is to go through my old papers and reformat them a bit to make them more palatable to people who are not professors. Oddly, I’m starting with my last paper, on Christian meditation. That is what I started this newsletter about in the first place, so it seems like a good place to re-start.
The original paper was 13 pages long, and I don’t want to chase everyone off with the first post, so I am breaking it into sections. Today, is the introduction to what Christian meditation is and isn’t. Later this month I’ll have posts on the specific calls in the Bible to meditate, and the historical witness of the church on the subject. What I hope you gain from today’s post is my thesis of the paper: Christian meditation is a cornerstone of Christian spirituality.
The first Psalm tells of the blessed man, a man who “delights in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2, NASB). This is a theme repeated throughout both the book of Psalms and the entire Bible, the blessing of meditating on the Father and His Word. But it is not just a blessing, it is also a call. For the Christian seeking to live in the Spirit or grow in Christ, meditation is essential. This Christian meditation is distinct due to the person of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in a believer. While this may not be a common practice in the Western church, it is not a new idea by any stretch. Christian meditation was practiced by faithful Christians throughout the history of the church. Furthermore, recent research shows the positive impacts of Christian meditation on both adults and children. The Bible, the history of the church, and recent research all testifies to the fact that meditation is a cornerstone of Christian spirituality.
Before diving into the call to and case for Christian meditation, I want to define what I mean by Christian meditation. Unfortunately the word meditation carries negative connotation amongst many Christians.[1] It is associated with New Age Christianity, other eastern religions, or simply an emptying of the mind.[2] This is not the meditation Christians are called to, nor is it the meditation that leads to spiritual development. Foster simply describes Christian meditation as “the ability to hear God’s voice, and obey His word.”[3] It is, at its most basic, sitting still and being quiet with the expectation that you will hear from God and be changed by Christ.
The meditation suggested by this paper is focused and centered on God, His Word, His nature, and His work. Thomas Watson did well to define it as “a holy exercise of the mind whereby we bring the truths of God to remembrance, and do seriously ponder upon them and apply them to ourselves.”[4] Beeke wrote of the two types of meditation according to the Puritans: occasional and deliberate.[5] The meditation focused on here is the deliberate type, meaning that it is intentional and focused. While there are many areas of focus for Christian meditation, most fall under three categories: the Word of God, the Person of Jesus, and life in the Spirit.
Meditating on the Word of God is the most common Christian meditation and the simplest to comprehend. It could be as simple as reading Scripture and sitting for a period of time considering that Scripture. One method for doing this is called Lectio Divina. Willard labels the four steps as reading the passage slowly (lectio), reflecting on the passage by placing yourself in the passage (meditatio), responding by praying to God about the passage (oratio), and resting in, or contemplating the passage (contemplatio).[6]
Meditating on the person of Jesus Christ serves two purposes. He is both the One who reveals the Father (John 17:25-26) and the one whose image Christians are to be conformed to (Romans 8:29). Edmund Calamy wrote, “A true meditation is when a man doth so meditate of Christ as to get his heart inflamed with the love of Christ; so meditate of the Truths of God, as to be transformed into them.”[7] Thinking about the Truths of God can actually change a person spiritually in a way that transforms them. Through meditating on the person of Jesus you can better know the Truths of God, as revealed by Christ and becomes more equipped to imitate Christ as you were made to do.
Finally, Christian meditation can be focused on life in the Spirit. Paul wrote to the Galatians that they were to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) and to “follow the Spirit” (5:25). This is a difficult call for us still living in this world in this flesh. That difficult call becomes impossible if we do not spend time considering the Spirit. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would “teach you all things” (John 14:26), but this is not a magic trick or osmosis. The process of walking by the Spirit and learning from the Spirit is a process of communion with the Spirit. Intentional, deliberate communion.
I want to emphasize here at the end of today’s post one more point from Foster. While Eastern meditation may be described an attempt to empty the mind or detach, Christian meditation is the opposite.[8] When I sit to meditate on God’s Word, on the person of Christ, on life in the Spirit, I am in some sense emptying myself of the things of this world. But I am being filled up at the same time by the things of God. That is just one of the reasons I believe it is an essential part of spiritual development.
Whether you meditate regularly, or have never tried meditation, I would encourage you to sit down with His Word today. Use a familiar verse if you’re feeling uncomfortable. Read the words and let them enter into your heart, your mind, and your soul. For as little as five minutes, do nothing but sit with those words. Pray that God would open your heart and your mind and your soul to His truth as you sit with Him. And expect that He will.
[1] Joel R. Beeke, How Can I Practice Christian Meditation? (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2016), 5.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Foster, Celebration, Meditation.
[4] Beeke, How Can I?, 6.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, Fourth Edition (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021), 49-52.
[7] Beeke, How Can I?, 5.
[8] Foster, Celebration, Meditation.