Spiritual Disciplines #1: Meditation

As we begin a new year we often begin with a “New Year’s Resolution” and often these can involve something to do with our spiritual life.  For instance, we often begin a new year with a resolution to read our Bible and pray every day.  But as we all know these resolutions often fall by the wayside before January is even over.  In order to help us keep our resolutions I will be writing on spiritual disciplines for 2017.

As an outline for this series I will be using Richard Foster’s book Celebration of Discipline.  I would encourage you all to obtain a copy, they are available through Amazon.  Foster, conveniently, writes about twelve disciplines, so we will be able to talk about one each month in 2017.  There are four inward disciplines: meditation, prayer, fasting, and study; four outward disciplines: simplicity, solitude, submission, and service; and, four corporate disciplines: confession, worship, guidance, and celebration.

Foster begins his book with the discipline of meditation but goes to great lengths to distinguish Christian mediation from meditation in eastern religions, for while those traditions encourages one to meditate in order to find answers from within oneself, Christian meditation, however, is looking outward to God and God’s Word to find answers.

Meditation simply means to think deeply.  In our case, we are thinking deeply about God and God’s Word.  It is important to remember that the object of our meditation is God as he has revealed himself in Scripture, not our own thoughts about God.  If prayer, which we will talk about next month, is talking to God, then meditation could be seen as listening for God’s answer; listening for that still small voice. (1 Kings 19:12)

While it is possible to meditate anytime and anywhere, for the beginner, Foster recommends finding a particular time of day, even just a few minutes, in a quiet comfortable location and a comfortable posture, no need to sit cross-legged on the floor.  Choose perhaps a small verse, or even single word, of Scripture upon which to meditate. For instance, one might choose Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”  One could reflect on what it means to be still, what it means to know God and to let God be God.  One could try to understand what God might be using the verse to try to say to me in my present situation.  Other things upon which to meditate would be words of hymns and songs, or attributes of God, such as goodness or holiness.

We have started off our series on spiritual disciplines with one of the most difficult to practice, but we may as well start with the hard stuff when we are the most motivated.  I am by no means an expert on many of these disciplines, especially meditation, so I would encourage you to acquire a copy of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline from Amazon, or another bookseller, and join me throughout 2017 in building up our spiritual health together.