Who are you? As a person you have many identities. When you meet someone for the first time, introductions are made. The first thing is your name, then where you live, how many are in your immediate family, what are their names and ages? What do you do for a living often comes up. I assume that is the way it works in all cultures since the beginning of time. These are just the surface identifiers for each of us. But WHO YOU ARE and who I am down deep is really revealed in our thought lives. What do we dwell on in our down time during our waking hours? Our thoughts are the foundation of all that we are.

I was one of the caretakers for my father in his later years while he was afflicted with dementia. I saw his total identity stripped away. He lost all awareness of the Bible, which he had studied diligently until he could no longer read it with comprehension. He lost much of his sense of right and wrong. One time I went to visit him, and I had tried to tell them to not serve him pork and shrimp and all those type of things, and lo and behold, I got there right at lunch time and they laid a plate of fried shrimp right there in front of him. He had not eaten unclean food for years, but he started to eat it and I said, “He’s not supposed to have that.” He just grabbed it and said, “I like that.” Everything that we see as our moral code can just disappear with that terrible disease. He said and did things that were not characteristic of him, all because he could no longer think logically.

I came across this poem. It says ‘author unknown’:

 Watch your thoughts, they become words.
 Watch your words, they become actions.
 Watch your actions, they become habits.
 Watch your habits, they become character.
 Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Today, I want to talk about one of the tools for spiritual growth. This is a tool that I’ve sometimes allowed to grow dull… that is the tool of meditation, the tool of constructive thinking. The dictionary definition of meditation is “To engage in thought or contemplation, to reflect.” Some synonyms are: “To ponder, muse, ruminate, cogitate, study, think.” Many religions practice a form of meditation, but not always the form of meditation described in the Bible. In the Bible, meditation is never portrayed as a religious, mental, or emotional ritual. Some just say the words over and over… chants and things of that nature. Meditation is described in the Bible as simply directed thinking, reflection, contemplation, or concentration. You hear a lot about meditation from some of the Eastern religions: TM, transcendental meditation. Basically, they just empty their minds; it’s just an attempt to empty the mind. Christian meditation fills the mind. This Oriental type meditation originated in false religion, which is dangerous and alienates us from God.

 Deut. 12:29-32 29 “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

We see a lot in the world’s religions where they adopt some of the practices of meditation from the eastern religions, Oriental religions… which we can see from this scripture is tied in with idolatry and all other types of worship that is not to be done. Do people want to say, “How do they do it? Maybe that’s the way that I should do it?” We are to turn away from that.

In the Old Testament, there is the word ‘meditate’ mentioned several times… but not as much in the New Testament. I just want to bring out the definitions of a couple of the Hebrew words and examples where they were used. We have our popular hymn in the hymnal, number one “Blessed and Happy Is the Man”, one we probably all learned when we came into the church… probably the first hymn we could remember by memory, almost, because we sang it so much.

Psa. 1:1-2 1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
 Nor stands in the path of sinners,
 Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
 And in His law, he meditates day and night.

The Hebrew word for meditate here is Strong’s 1897, hagah. It means in part ‘to utter a sound, moan or mutter. The act of thoughtful deliberation with implication of speaking to oneself.’ I was kind of surprised at that definition when I looked it up. Sometimes if you’re studying, you may kind of talk to yourself and that is a form of meditation if you’re studying something down to that level. That was interesting.

Psalm 119 is all about God’s law and how the psalmist revered it, so it’s repeated several times throughout this chapter.

Psa. 119:15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.

This means look into Your ways. This ‘meditate’ comes from Strong’s 7878, “ siach” which means ‘to meditate, to muse, consider, think on.’ It is very similar to the dictionary definition.

Meditation is basically talking about what we can think about, what we dwell on, even what we talk to ourselves about in regard to the scriptures and to our Christian lives.

In Matthew chapters five through seven, Christ brought obedience to God’s law to a whole new level. Obedience also had to be in the thoughts not just how we acted on the outside. His condemnation of the Pharisees was that so much of their obedience was on the outside, but inside they were impure in their motives and thoughts. Sin is a violation of God’s law and it begins with our thoughts, the core of our existence. We must always strive to direct our thoughts in the right direction, away from sin. Our mind, in this modern time, we can see is almost like a giant computer. They’ve never been able to come anywhere near producing what each of us carries right up here between our ears. It’s amazing.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE A PRINTOUT OF ALL THE THINGS YOU’VE THOUGHT ABOUT OVER A TWENTY-FOUR HOUR PERIOD AND HAVE IT POSTED?

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:5… bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

I don’t believe I would want all of mine published. Even though I have been striving to overcome many wrong thoughts and actions for many decades with the help of God’s Spirit, I still would not want to post a printout of all my daily thoughts. Some things go through there that I probably wouldn’t be proud of. They’re not always controlled and directed in the direction they should be. I have not succeeded fully in obeying this instruction that Paul was inspired to write to the church in Corinth.

I came across a website, “Memoryverses.org”, and it had an article on how to meditate on God’s Word. It brought out some things that we can sometimes meditate on that are not positive… what I call negative meditation. Some of these are just somewhat a part of our human nature. Some could be a result of the way we were raised, our formative years. It could also be from this broadcast that Satan is putting out all the time that impacts our minds. It gave some questions to ask yourself about your thoughts:

 1) Are you critical of others? (I’d have to hold up my hand and say at times I have been.)

 2) Do you mope because you do not receive the praise you feel you deserve?

 3) How much time do you spend worrying about ‘this or that’?

 (I don’t think I worry as much as I used to. I used to worry and lose a whole night’s sleep when I was working and there would be problems at the office. On one job I had, we were having a lot of financial issues and I couldn’t sleep at night. I was worried how we were going to solve this, what is the solution?)

Psa. 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. [My margin says ‘to be shaken.]

This is where we need to go with worry. We need to be able to turn it over, to stop just meditating and meditating on these problems.

Matt. 6:25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
 
Then He gives examples of the wildlife out there and how God provides all their food, all their nourishment… God provides all of that. He talks about the beauty of the lilies and how God clothes the grass of the field. Matt. 6:31-34 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

That is so true. We have a heavenly Father; He will take care of us.

 (From memoryverses.org)
 4) How much time do you spend grumbling, or complaining or feeling sorry for yourself?

 5) How much time do you spend thinking about the TV shows or the movies you watched last night?

 Psa. 119:37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,

That is so true of our world’s entertainment (worthless). We have to be so selective in what we let enter into our minds through this entertainment industry we have today.

 6) How much time do you relive the bad things people do to you? [I’ve spent a lot of time meditating on that at different times in my life.]

 7) Do you list out all your misfortunes?

 8) Do you allow yourself to be angry for long periods of time?

Anger can really take over your thoughts if you’re not careful.

 9) Do you think about bad things happening to the people you’re angry with?

 10) Do you think about bad things happening to yourself?

It seems like that as I’ve gotten older and working with people a little bit older than I am, I find that some people are so fearful. They think about all the things that could happen and they try to build this shield around them to keep anything bad from coming on them and that’s the whole focus of their whole lives… to avoid anything bad happening. We don’t want anything bad, but these things do come about… sometimes through no fault of our own. But is it profitable to just spend a lot of time thinking and meditating on that?

 11) Do you rejoice in the misfortunes of others?

 12) Do you dwell on lustful and impure thoughts?

Especially for the male mind, this is always a battle… the battle to keep our minds in the right place.

 13) Do you glory in an important position you hold in church or at work?

I’ve come across some, even in the church, that had some duty at Sabbath services and the minister came in and shifted that to somebody else and they were insulted in that. They couldn’t understand ‘why can’t I keep doing that; I like doing that job.’ It’s time for you to move on to something else. We have to watch for these little inside attitudes; it can infect us.

 14) Do you review reasons why you are better than others or better suited than others?

This again goes back to a certain amount of pride, pride that we have to try to get out of our system, out of our thoughts.

 15) Do you list reasons why others you know are deficient in some way as compared to yourself?

Phil. 2:3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

Rom. 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

We’ve got to be not comparing among ourselves. That is a very negative way to be spending our thoughts and our time.
                         
Our answers to these probing questions can really reveal where our thought life is as of today. What have we dwelt on today? That is who you are today. We all want to be in God’s Kingdom; we all want to be a saint and God has promised that to us, but first we must constantly seek to bring every thought into captivity. In the end, we will primarily be judged by what is in our heart. The Bible speaks of the heart as primarily talking about the mind… what’s in the mind.

So, what should we meditate on? Meditation is an intrinsic part of daily prayer and Bible study. What are you studying and praying about? Taking time during daily prayer and Bible study to really think about how those scriptures apply in your life can cement what you have learned into your mind. When you have a lot of other things to accomplish, we can shortcut some time for meditation. I know I’ve done that. I think, “I’ve got this to do and that.” Sometimes the physical overrides our need to be thinking more upon the spiritual aspects. It is good to have a pen and paper handy to jot down thoughts as you meditate, as you study. It is so easy to not follow through if you don’t write it down. When fasting, meditation is essential. As humans, we can easily let our thoughts go off in other directions when we are fasting. Focused meditation along with prayer and Bible study while you fast will make fasting far more profitable. In the United booklet “Tools For Spiritual Growth” on page 21 there is a box that lists items that we can meditate on.

1) GOD’S ASTOUNDING CREATIVE POWER AS REVEALED THROUGH HIS CREATION.

This is really effective if you can get out among the creation. I live in the city and it’s more difficult sometimes to have that connection to God’s creation than it is if you live out away from the city. I have some land out in the country and I go out there about once a month and I really enjoy it because I can have so much more connection with God’s creation and think about all that God has provided for us.

Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
This is talking about those who reject God, they that deny His existence. He’s all around us. He’s everywhere in His creation, in this vast universe that we are a part of.

Psa. 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Just look up in the stars at night and see all of that and think, “Our heavenly Father created all of that, He laid all that out.”

Psa. 39:13-18 13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.

(Our own physical bodies are a marvelous creation. It’s amazing when you think about how this DNA, as we’ve come to understand in the last few decades, how it’s carried on from the beginning of time to today. It’s just amazing.)

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

That is another thing that we can meditate on… this marvelous physical body that we’ve been given. The brain that I talked about earlier helps us to think and to draw closer to God as our creator.

2) HOW GOD IS A FATHER TO US

Some people didn’t have a great relationship with their father, but we have a Father who truly loves us and cares for us.

3) GOD’S AWESOME PLAN AS REVEALED BY HIS HOLY DAYS.

We repeat that plan every year as we go through the Holy Days.

4) JESUS CHRIST’S SACRIFICE

We’re drawing near now to the Passover season. We really need to meditate on that and the meaning of that sacrifice.

5) WHAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE LIKE BOTH IN THE MILLENNIUM AND BEYOND

We’re so accustomed to the way this world operates that sometimes it’s hard to think ‘How will it be different if everybody was obedient to God’? There will be whole industries that will disappear. It will be so much different from what it is now.

6) JESUS CHRIST’S PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT GOD WANTS US TO BE

7) JESUS CHRIST’S TEACHINGS--HOW CAN WE BEST LIVE BY THEM?

 8) AND 9) ARE ABOUT THE BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS LISTED IN LEVITICUS TWENTY-SIX AND DEUTERONOMY TWENTY-EIGHT. Those are good to think about and how we are blessed in this nation and how we are blessed for obedience.

10) HOW TO OVERCOME VARIOUS SINS

11) THE MANY PROMISES OF THE BIBLE

I’ve heard sermons on that, the promises of the Bible.

12) THE EXPERIENCE OF BIBLICAL FIGURES

What can we learn from them? There are a lot of great examples in the Bible. In Hebrews eleven we see great figures down through time who had great weaknesses; they didn’t always meditate in the right places either, but eventually, they overcame and they were used by God.

13) READ ANY SECTION OF THE BIBLE AND ASK, “WHAT DOES GOD WANT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS?”

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Meditation is a critical tool for each of us to use in our lives. Meditation and self-examination go hand in hand. When we meditate we will often find where we come up short. We should pray that God will help us see ourselves as He sees us and for the humility to see the need for repentance. We’ve all got things that we are still working on, still overcoming.

James 1:22-24 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

Again, this goes back to making those notations. Is there something there that we need to repent of, to change, that we see when we’re studying God’s word; that we see where we’re coming up short?

In conclusion: We’ve seen that meditation is an essential tool along with Bible Study, prayer and fasting for spiritual growth. As much as I would like to one day say I’ve reached spiritual perfection and can just coast into God’s Kingdom, that’s not the way it works. We all want the easy ride, but it doesn’t work that way. Every day we must be seeking to grow closer to having the mind of Christ in us, to think like He thinks. Even as we can rejoice in the gift of salvation, we must be contending with our human nature and carnal thoughts as well as the cultural influences around us, which are inspired by Satan. Bible study and prayer alone will not bring us to repentance to overcoming our sin. There have been many great Bible scholars who aren’t necessarily in a repentant state of mind. There are many who know the Bible frontwards and backward and can even preach eloquently from it, but sometimes we find out their private lives are many times in opposition to what they teach. It just amazes me when one after other famous religious personalities are discovered to have this other life that they are living. They’re not thinking about God’s word every day as they go about it or how could they get involved in those types of sins?

What God reveals in His word must be internalized if it is to change the heart, the inner man or woman. Only through spending time to meditate on God and what He reveals to us in His word, can we continue to grow toward spiritual perfection which will only be fulfilled when we are changed to the spirit when Christ returns. One of my favorite scriptures is in Philippians and it just brings everything into a nutshell.

Phil. 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.