billiefan2000
March 13th, 2008, 11:10 AM
Biblical Meditation Vs. Eastern Contemplative Meditation
“… And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.”
–Psalm 119:47-48
So if the Bible talks about “meditating” on God’s Word, why are we constantly warning about “meditation”? It would be helpful if we would more clearly delineate what we’re talking about regarding meditation as the Bible describes it, and meditation as the eastern religions of the world defines it.
This sermon from staunch old Puritan Thomas Watson of the 17th Century clarifies the biblical meditation we are all to engage in. Note that in the biblical form of meditation, we are to meditate or think about someone, God. We are to think about His attributes: His holiness, His omniscience, His power and majesty. Notice also that we are not emptying our minds, but rather filling them with the thoughts of God as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word. These are the thoughts that produce Christ-likeness in the believer. As we think on the good, true and lovely things of our God, we fill our minds (not empty them) with the things God would have us to focus upon. As those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, we should be spending time in God’s presence to worship, to study and then to meditate alone on God’s greatness and His marvelous redemptive plan.
For every good thing God creates, Satan has a counterfeit or a perverted form to offer mankind. Just as there is biblical meditation upon God, there is a pagan, idolatrous, dangerous form of meditation that connects our minds to the spirit world without the Word of God as our guide and standard. This meditation originates in the pagan eastern religions of the world that reject the true God of the Bible. This is the contemplative meditation that is sweeping into evangelical churches today. It’s a counterfeit, and it is dangerous. While eastern meditation is dangerous, meditation on the truths of God’s Word serves to protect our minds by reminding us of what God has said about Himself. With the plumb line of the Word in front of us, we are unlikely to be deceived.
The enemy would like nothing more than for Christians to discard the biblical form of meditating on God’s Word out of fear that somehow to stop and get away and “chew” on the things of God is somehow related to the perverse variety of meditation. We need to realize that the Luciferian perversion of meditation cannot be allowed to turn believers from the meditation that Scripture refers to multiple times. We meditate upon God’s Word. We focus on the Lord and reflect on all He has taught us. We don’t empty our minds, we fill them with God’s eternal truth. What a difference!
“My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.”–Psalm 63:6-7
http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/?p=483
“… And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.”
–Psalm 119:47-48
So if the Bible talks about “meditating” on God’s Word, why are we constantly warning about “meditation”? It would be helpful if we would more clearly delineate what we’re talking about regarding meditation as the Bible describes it, and meditation as the eastern religions of the world defines it.
This sermon from staunch old Puritan Thomas Watson of the 17th Century clarifies the biblical meditation we are all to engage in. Note that in the biblical form of meditation, we are to meditate or think about someone, God. We are to think about His attributes: His holiness, His omniscience, His power and majesty. Notice also that we are not emptying our minds, but rather filling them with the thoughts of God as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word. These are the thoughts that produce Christ-likeness in the believer. As we think on the good, true and lovely things of our God, we fill our minds (not empty them) with the things God would have us to focus upon. As those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, we should be spending time in God’s presence to worship, to study and then to meditate alone on God’s greatness and His marvelous redemptive plan.
For every good thing God creates, Satan has a counterfeit or a perverted form to offer mankind. Just as there is biblical meditation upon God, there is a pagan, idolatrous, dangerous form of meditation that connects our minds to the spirit world without the Word of God as our guide and standard. This meditation originates in the pagan eastern religions of the world that reject the true God of the Bible. This is the contemplative meditation that is sweeping into evangelical churches today. It’s a counterfeit, and it is dangerous. While eastern meditation is dangerous, meditation on the truths of God’s Word serves to protect our minds by reminding us of what God has said about Himself. With the plumb line of the Word in front of us, we are unlikely to be deceived.
The enemy would like nothing more than for Christians to discard the biblical form of meditating on God’s Word out of fear that somehow to stop and get away and “chew” on the things of God is somehow related to the perverse variety of meditation. We need to realize that the Luciferian perversion of meditation cannot be allowed to turn believers from the meditation that Scripture refers to multiple times. We meditate upon God’s Word. We focus on the Lord and reflect on all He has taught us. We don’t empty our minds, we fill them with God’s eternal truth. What a difference!
“My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.”–Psalm 63:6-7
http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/?p=483