Transforming the Soul Through Meditation
Valerie walks us through a simple practice of meditating on Scripture and shares the benefits of keeping God’s word at the forefront of our minds.
I’d like to share with you what I believe to be one of the easiest and most accessible avenues to transformation by God’s word: Scriptural meditation. Meditation is a simple yet impactful practice. The C.S. Lewis Institute defines Biblical meditation as
“the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God…”
Simply put, to meditate on Scripture is to reflect on or ponder a small portion of God’s Word for an extended amount of time.
Christian meditation is unlike eastern meditation which aims for the emptying of the mind and instead aims for us to fill our mind with God, his truth and his promises.
For instance, recently I have been reading slowly through the book of Philippians. A few days ago I started reading chapter two which in the New Living Translation starts with this question:
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ?
I continued to read the chapter but before I closed my Bible, I went back to verse one above.
I thought about that question- a lot. Although I have read that verse many times over the years, I have never stopped and asked myself to answer that question. As I closed my Bible, I continued to ask myself that question. I thought about what it means to belong to Christ. I thought about encouragement. I continued to ask myself throughout the day, all the ways I could think of that I have personally received encouragement from belonging to Christ.
As you might imagine, by simply meditating on the passage and the answers, my mind was filled with encouragement throughout the day! God’s promises and encouragement filled my heart, mind and soul. And because my thoughts were occupied with good things, I had no room for stressful, unhelpful, or otherwise negative, unwanted and unneeded thoughts. No wonder Psalm 1 says that the person who meditates and delights in God’s word is blessed!
As you can see, this kind of meditation is not complicated but it is beneficial in many ways.
Here are just a few ways you may benefit from being intentional about meditating on Scripture:
Your mind is filled with the thoughts of God and his promises
Your mind is set on things above (Col. 3:2) and renewed (Romans 12:2)
Your heart is turned to prayer and praise
You are more likely to memorize the Scripture that you meditate on
You entering into the promises of God (Psalm 1)
If you haven’t engaged in Scripture in this way, I hope you will give it a try.
Here are a few ideas to help you get started:
If you are already in a reading or devotional plan, pick a verse or portion from your reading to intentionally stop and think about. Take that verse with you throughout your day. Recall it or keep it in the front of your mind as much as you can. Ponder and reflect on the words, thoughts and ideas.
If you are not already following a reading or devotional plan, simply pick out a verse or portion of the Bible that catches your attention. If you want, you can even search the internet by looking up “popular Bible verses” or something similar.
Stick with your verses for one day, a week or longer. As long as it is impacting you, stay with it.
Use sticky notes to help you remember your verse.
Engage with others. Do you have a soul friend or discipleship group that you could share with? If you do, this will help deepen your engagement and bless others as well!
Let us be intentional in taking small steps that open our souls to the transforming power of God’s word as it enters deeply into our hearts and minds.
Enjoy the journey!