Meditation has been a long tradition in the Christian church. However, the practice has not been widely used by the faithful. Meditation, as a discipline, has not lent itself well to instruction in recent church history. The only examples the church has been exposed to are those within the cloistered walls of the monasteries. However, as we have noted above, these traditions have been greatly influenced by the mystics and the traditions have become more Eastern in their approach than biblical.


           Therefore, it is imperative for us to discover and implement the biblical model for our spiritual walk and relationship with our God. The other methodologies of meditation lead us into darkness and eventually spiritual death.


           Christianity calls us to look outward and upward to God, rather than within for spiritual nourishment. The authority for the Christian life does not lie within us, but in the Word of God – Jesus and His Word. Christian meditation brings life – not death. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh says that meditation is a subtle death. “It is the death of you: of your mind, of your ego, of all that defines you. Only what is within, what is not mind, not the ego, remains – and that is pure consciousness.”Christian meditation should accentuate our being, the fact that we are created in God’s image. It should not eliminate who we are! Christian meditation should also strengthen our mind – not kill it. Christian meditation should open a deeper relationship with God through His Word as we give thoughtful meditation in how we might become more conformed to the Scripture’s teaching – not the merging of our selves with consciousness.


           Biblical meditation, then, is the conscious reflection of the mind on God’s Word – revealed truth. We are to reflect on this truth until it has taken deep root in our essence – who we are. Our innermost being! As Christians, we are to meditate on three great Truths.


           First, we are to meditate on God himself. The Scripture tells us that we are to meditate on God, not our self. Isaiah 26:3 says that our mind is to stay (remain) on Him and that we will have perfect peace. Eastern meditation claims to bring peace to the individual. But, true peace only comes by rightfully placing one’s thought on Him.


           Second, we are to meditate on God’s works. Psalm 77:12 says that we are to “meditate on all thy work, and talk of thy doings.” Psalm 143:5 adds that we are to “remember the days of old, I meditate on all thou hast done; I muse (ponder) on the work of Thy hands.” We are not only to ponder the things of the past. We should ponder the works of Christ and particularly His redemptive work on our behalf. Should we not ponder or meditate on the great debt that Jesus cancelled for us?  


           Third, we are to meditate on God’s Word. The Christian is to focus his mind on the Scripture – to meditate on God’s Word day and night (Josh. 1:8, Psalm 1:1-2). The Scripture reminds us that the man who pleases the Lord is the one who continually meditates on his law. We are to fill our minds with God’s truth, not seek a passive state in a mental wasteland.


“True meditation is not ‘emptying the mind.’ It is simply pondering the truths of God – His person, His works, His Word. It is allowing that truth to mold us and make us, to fit us and form us, to chip us and change us. It is adoring, worshiping, and communing with God who has found us through His Son, Jesus Christ.”