Meditation of This World

Meditation is all the rage, now. New Age teachings from Hinduism have been mainstreamed in our society. Pragmatism rules the day, the attitude, "Well, it works, doesn't it?" So we embrace everything from acupuncture to hypnosis to Reiki healing techniques, as long as "it works."

I was reminded of this when checking Refdesk.com the other day. See the Hindu monk in the saffron robe in the middle of the picture? The title of the article says, Meditate the Pain Away, with yet another scientific study on the benefits of meditation. Wonder why they never list the side-effects and the perils of meditation?

I was in my doctor's office recently, and saw a calendar put out by the local hospital showing a woman sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, hands positioned, meditating. But the meditation promoted by this world is anti-meditation, according to the word of God. The meditation of this world, whether in Hindu yoga, or in contemplative or centering prayer of the Emerging/Emergent Church, is going within, emptying of the mind, entering what they call "thpe silence." For the purpose of experiencing the divine self, or experiencing God. You will experience something, something supernatural, but it will not be the Biblical, one true God.

God never tells us to look within, for we are told that within us dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18). The heart of man is not innately good, but innately evil (Jeremiah 17:9). Going within is going the wrong way, and does not lead to God, away from God and to the god of this world, Satan, dressed as an angel of light though he may be, still Satan at the end.

Don't look within, look above!
The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul, teaches us something about meditation:

Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 

Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

(1 Timothy 4:15-16)

David fills the Psalms with examples of true meditation:

My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

(Psalms 119:48)

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

(Psalms 19:14)

God teaches us that meditation is not an emptying, but a filling of our minds, with the things of God. By doing so, we will be strengthened in our faith, and we will walk in the truth. So let me encourage you to be in God's word daily, and to chew on it, rolling it over in your mind, understanding and learning from it. That's the way a Christian meditates. By doing so, we'll be strengthened in our inner man, and be ready to be light & salt in this lost and dying world.

Maranatha!