The Great Retreat from real spiritual transformation begins with smaller losses of investment…
When is the last time you meditated? Did you know that it could be a part of a healthy and productive regimen for you? So says, Daniel Goleman, writing in the Wall Street Journal this past week. In fact, Goleman researched some 6000 studies written about meditation and completed a Ph.D from Harvard on the subject of meditation and stress, and concluded that almost anyone can benefit from employing this ancient but increasingly popular mental exercise, even a child as young as five.
But wait a minute, haven’t I heard about meditation before? Yea, I remember seeing articles over the years about those Buddhist monks, meditating high in the Himalayas, saying little, with an equal lack of movement, conferring with their inner being if only to empty themselves of all that is destructive. The meditation accomplished by Goleman and others seeks to focus the thoughts on particular aspects of their being or their physiology with the intent of better controlling the outside world and its affects upon their lives.
But that’s not biblical meditation as was practiced by the those men like Elijah, and David, Isaac and Paul, and most importantly of all, Jesus, the Lord. Biblical meditation, according to author Richard Foster is,
The ability to hear God’s voice and obey his Word. It involves no hidden mysteries, no secret mantras, no mental gymnastics, no esoteric flights into the cosmic consciousness. The truth of the matter is that the great God of the universe, the Creator of all things Desires our fellowship. ( Foster, Celebration, pg. 17)
Saints throughout the ages of the church have meditated… Foster notes,
From Catholic to Protestant, from Eastern Orthodox to Western Free church we are urged to live in HIs presence in uninterrupted fellowship… The Anglican divine, Jeremy Taylor declares, Meditation is the duty of all… And in our day, Lutheran Martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, when asked why he meditated, replied, because I am a Christian. (Foster, pg. 19)
The problem for Christians is a well traveled one. We as believers are surrendering the very tools that God has given his people more than two millennia ago for the successful negotiating of life, for competent worship, for the relief of our anxiety and for a keener focus of our energies directed toward the purposes God has for us. Why is it we who possess a biblical worldview find ourselves surrendering the higher ground of such practices of meditation and worship which were given by God long ago for our survival and success? How is it we can possess all that pertains to Godliness, share in the divine nature and yet cannot adopt the necessary disciplines that Peter in his second epistle, suggest are needed and obtainable ( II Peter 1:3-9)?
We have become famous for surrendering the high ground of biblical witness (integration), only to watch as others hijack the biblical practices for use as a temporal fix or streamlined path toward human success. Turns out we’ve done that with more than meditation. I observed that fasting is now popular with dieting enthusiasts and athletic trainers as a corrective or stimulant to greater weight loss or athletic performance. The joy of compassionate service and sacrifice, once the primary work of the church has been eclipsed by Federal, state and local governments or by private organizations offering 12-step programs and psychotherapy. Now, don’t misunderstand me, as I realize that this kind of help is needed and often lacking for those who may find themselves in dire need from a physical crisis or mental anguish. These appear to be all too common in a break-neck pace of our current culture. I’m merely saddened that we’ve lost our interest and passion for biblical counsel and study. We now seek mostly secular practitioners for our troubles; we see no need for fasting for our faltering interest in God or his principled commands; and we see meditation primarily as a tool for overly religious and those who seek an edge for greater productivity or as a relief from the stress that is part of a culture we demanded to fill the vacuum of empty time in our lives. We either care little about a deeper relationship with God, his church, and his people, or we simply have become convinced that such ancient principles offer nothing for the modern world that cannot be gleaned from pop psychology and stunted Christian thinking.
Maybe we need to revisit the history of the church. It’s a history rich with great minds nurtured in the Puritan model through primers built from the Scriptures; a history replete with the great power and presence of the early church where fasting and meditation were still in fashion; and a history resplendent with the great sacrifices from the ages of Luther, Augustine, Tyndall and Huss, who knew they were standing for something worthy, and surrendered their own desires if but to advance the kingdom of God.
May their tribe increase.
MJC
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