Our culture emphasises the outward and the seen. The media is dominated by money, possessions, houses, cars, food, physical beauty and outward success. The Bible is very different. It stresses the importance of the inward and unseenaspects of our character: the thoughts, beliefs and attitudes that determine our outward behaviour. ‘For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal’ (v.18).
If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate! All you need to do is change what you think about and you will be practising Christian meditation.
‘Meditation’ (v.34) means what we think about, what we allow our mind to dwell on. Our actions and our words are vital. But it is not just our actions and words that can please the Lord or not; it is our inward and unseen meditation as well.
The psalmist praises God for the entire created universe. He says, ‘I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live’ (v.33). Then, he prays, ‘May my meditation be pleasing to him’ (v.34).
What does this mean practically? The apostle Paul has some good advice: ‘whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things’ (Philippians 4:8).
No comments:
Post a Comment