How Should I Practice Meditation?
Sunday Christians often avoid meditation because they fear it makes them too vulnerable, bringing them face-to-face with their deepest thoughts. Monday Christians run toward meditation, for it’s in this discipline that they experience a higher enjoyment of God and see life as it really is.
Some Christians feel uneasy about the spiritual discipline of meditation.
I kind of understand why.
Several years ago, I walked into a Christian counselor’s office looking for help with some depression challenges. At the close of our exchange, he pulled out a book on Eastern meditation and suggested I read it before our next session. I did, but I came away disappointed, thinking that of all the great Christian literature on spiritual meditation, this was the best he could do.
I've talked to others with similar experiences, and it's caused them to write off meditation as a hokey, somewhat strange practice. But a bit more context is helpful.
Eastern meditation, particularly in traditions like Buddhism and Hinduism, often focuses on self-awareness, detachment, and achieving inner peace or enlightenment. It typically involves techniques to quiet the mind, transcend thoughts, and connect with a sense of universal consciousness or the self.
In contrast, Christian meditation centers on deepening a relationship with God. It involves focusing on Scripture, God’s attributes, and his will, with the goal of aligning our lives with his purposes. While Eastern meditation often seeks to empty the mind, Christian meditation emphasizes filling the mind with God's Word and truths.
Spiritual meditation is Biblical. Joshua 1:8 says, "This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do." Psalm 119:15 says, "I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways." As 17th Century minister Nathanael Ranew writes,
“Meditation is to be the motion of the heavenly spirit heavenward; to carry it up to heaven and keep it a time there; a looking of the eye of the mind, and a lifting up of the heart, a making a stay, and taking a spiritual solace in heaven with God.”
So, how should I practice meditation?
