This week I am looking at five exercises to help strengthen your life as a follower of Jesus. I am going to combine these posts with my Bible study series into a short e-book which will be free for download. You can read the first and second installments here: Fasting, Prayer, Silence
Meditation sounds so Eastern and new age, doesn’t it? We get the picture of one sitting in a room in the lotus position while humming and trying to find their inner-self; or some such rubbish. Meditating on Scripture is a little bit different. Meditating on Scripture has little to do with sitting in the lotus position.
How do we meditate on Scripture?
Meditate- (Verb) To reflect on, contemplate
The best ways to meditate (reflect, contemplate) Scripture is to read and memorize it. The act of reading and memorizing produces faith in Christ and what He has done, among other things. When we choose to memorize Scripture we are able to grow in multiple areas as Christians. Memorizing Scripture helps us in the following (from John Piper):
- It makes us more like Christ
- It builds our faith
- It helps us when we are spreading the Gospel by making verses readily available when we do not have a Bible near by
- It helps us enhance our prayer worshiping
- It helps us avoid temptation and sin
It is not as hard as you think
There are many good systems out there to help you memorize Scripture. I think the easiest way is to “just do it.” Seriously. Open your Bible, pic a verse and commit it to memory over the next several days. While memorizing it, think about it in context. Pray about it. Ask the Holy Spirit to make it real and understandable. Ask another person in your life (spouse, friend, pastor, son or daughter, etc.) if they will memorize the same verse with you. Pick a short verse one week, and a long verse the next week. Feeling really (and I mean REALLY) motivated? Memorize a section or chapter of Scripture.
Don’t do it to be “holier than thou”
Scripture is the very Word of God. We are made holy through the reading and memorizing of it. However, do not do it to show how much better you are than others, or like it is the way to earn a “holy merit badge.” Do it for the reasons I stated above, not so you can put the smack down on your friends. Do it for the way it makes you more like Christ. Any other reason is useless.
John Piper has done the work for me
Here are some verses Piper recommends about meditating on Scripture:
- Joshua 1:8
- Psalm 119:11
- Psalm 119:15 (really, the whole psalm gives good reasons)
- Romans 10:17
I hope this helps. If anyone would like to join me, I am memorizing Isaiah 41:10 this week.
-Don-
Every day I say "this is the hardest one for me" and then the next day you publish one that is even more difficult.
You know, I do what I can to make it harder on you guys J Really though, I hope my suggestions are easy to follow. I should clarify, I do not expect anyone to just jump into all of these at once.
I must say that this one gives me a bit of struggle. I am good at remembering context and meaning, rather than phrases. I'll be working on this.
Thanks.
Wow! your website have the great information about meditatin
.I'm sure I will be back again.