Meditations

Meditation is a word I've always shied away from. To me, my first thought is yoga and second thought is other religions such as Buddhism. I have never had a good impression of meditation.

However, last night rocked my world.

I went to a monthly Ladies Meeting with my mom at Gospel for Asia. Can you guess the topic? Yup. Meditation. That dreaded word. But what I heard that night was something no one had ever had the chance of explaining to me.

That meditation Biblically, is a serious thing.

That what you think about, or meditate on, will determine your actions later.

med.i.ta.tion

a discourse intended to express its author's reflections or to guide others in contemplation.

a contemplative discourse

the act of meditating; contemplation; reflection

continued or extended thought

synonyms:

contemplation, thought, thinking, musing,

pondering, consideration, reflection etc.

All Christians and non-Christians alike, meditate whether they know it or not. When something happens to you, bad or good, you can't stop thinking about it right? You are constantly turning that incident over and over in your mind, dwelling on what happened, and in reality, meditating on that situation.

Here is a story that might help you understand.

There are 4 men in court. With 2 different stories.

Victim #1 is a young dad, who while backing up his car to go to work, didn't realize that his son was playing behind the car, and had his hands stuck in the fender. Dad started driving away, when finally neighbors got his attention. Victim #1 had dragged his son to his death.

Victims #2-4 are 3 white males who stuck a young black mans hands in the fender, and drug him to his death.

2 stories. 2 different outcomes.

The judge listened to Victim #1's story. Judge agreed to call it 'accidental manslaughter' and let the man go free of charges.

The judge then listened to Victims #2-4's story. Judge gave all 3 men the death penalty for 'pre-meditated manslaughter'.

Do you get it? Victim #1 had no intentions of doing such a thing to his son. He never had planned in his head to do that. However, the other 3 victims had come together and thought about it, planning it out, and then acting upon that. They had pre-meditated the whole thing. Had they thought of something else, more wholesome, none of this would have happened. They acted upon what they had been meditating on.

The same thing happened to Osama Bin Laden. Hitler. Mother Theresa. What had they been thinking about, or meditating on prior to their future actions? Osama, had probably been thinking about blowing things up. How to do the most destruction. How the twin towers worked. Hitler thought about killing people years before he actually did it. Mother Theresa thought about how to help the poor, and needy before displaying that in her future actions.

What you meditate on now, will determine your later actions.

So what are some good things you can meditate on? The very first and foremost is God's Holy Word. He even commands us to meditate on it day and night:

"This Book of the Law shall not depart

from your mouth, but you shall

meditate on it day and night, so that

you may be careful to do according to

all that is written in it. For then you will

make your way prosperous, and then

you well have good success."

~Joshua 1:8

"But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on His law he meditates day and night."

~Psalm 1:2

"Let the words of my mouth and the

meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your

sight, O Lord, my Rock and my

                    Redeemer.

~Psalm 19:14

So, there you go. When someone irritates you, instead of dwelling on that, meditating on your self and the fact that this person irritated you...think about a scripture verse such as:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

Rather, in humility value others above

yourselves."

~Philippians 2:3

When you are angry with a friend, your husband, your sibling, don't keep thinking about that fact. Instead, think about this scripture:

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor

and evil speaking be put away from

you, with all malice. And be kind to

one another, tenderhearted, forgiving

one another, even as God in Christ

forgave you."

~Ephesians 4:31-32

Or even this verse:

"A new command I give you:

Love one another. As I have

loved you, so you must love

one another. By this everyone

will know that you are My disciples,

if you love one another."

~John 13:34-35

When you are feeling depressed and downcast, refuse to dwell on those things. Instead think about:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is

true, whatever is noble, whatever is

right, whatever is pure, whatever is

admirable--if anything is excellent or

praiseworthy--think about such things."

~Philippians 4:8

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under

God's mighty hand, that He may lift

you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety

on Him because He cares for you."

~1 Peter 5:6-7

When you meditate, or think about over and over in your head, or dwell on, these scriptures and truths about Christ, your actions will reflect these thoughts. If you choose to meditate on the bad things that come your way, thinking about over and over in your head all the anger you have towards someone, or all the woe is me, upsetting ones, that is how you will act.

So what will you choose to meditate on?

 Be careful...cause it will determine your actions later on.

He is worthy and greatly to be praised

 Olivia Grace