Nothing so cultivates the inner person and enriches our relationship with God as biblical meditation. Meditation is the process of pondering, musing, and reflecting upon God and His truth. In the process, our hearts are drawn to God, our thoughts are filled with His thoughts. Ultimately our behavior becomes like Christ’s.
Meditation is more than reading the Bible. It is musing upon it, rehearsing it prayerfully and thoughtfully. It is not swallowing Scripture whole, but chewing long and hard before digesting it. As a therapy for stress, meditation is often superior to medication. It is during prayerful, Christ-centered meditation that the peace of God is experienced and the inner life is bolstered to withstand the pressures of the outer life.
There is really no secret to meditation. All of us do it daily. We may meditate on a novel, a TV program, a sermon, a song, a shopping list, a friend, or this morning’s sidewalk sale. Right now you’re meditating on this blog. We all do it. The key to meditation is its object.
Biblical meditation focuses on God:
1. His attributes: “Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love” (Psalm 48:9).
2. His works: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:11–12).
3. His Word: “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word” (Psalm 119:15–16).
Copying Scripture and carrying it with us throughout the day, reading it and memorizing it, makes God’s Word a part of us. As Paul wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16).
We like to hear seven methods and five easy steps and three proven secrets to the Christian life. But there are no shortcuts to spirituality. There is no pill that makes us godly. We become more Christ-like only as we take pains to focus our gaze on Christ. As we meditate on Him, we become increasingly like Him: “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NASB).
