Meditation- Evan Hillis

An interesting read this week! Meditation is something that has always interested me, but I've never heard it fully discussed within a Christian framework. I'm eager to get this happening in my life!

The first thing that struck me was the quote from Foster, "In contemporary society our adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds." Wow! I don't know if it could have been put any simpler or truer. Being a person who is almost constantly busy, I found this to really hit home. Also, all of these things are characteristics of living in a city, something many people do and I will probably be doing next year for college. Not that cities are bad things, but I feel they make it easier to get distracted from Christ since they have those traits and other distractions. This also points to how beneficial it can be to get away from life's bustle and pursue Christ in a quieter place, like on houseboats!!!

The third paragraph on how we seek things that will refresh us instead of God was also great because, what do you know, I do that far too much! I bury myself in my work and activities so much that the only thing I can think will help me is another activity. This also ties in with the statement "...we can become so preoccupied with out doing that we neglect the true nature of our very self." Our nature is to know and love God, and when we let our activities consume our lives, God ends up taking the back seat. No bueno.

Another great illustration of this is from end note number four, the verse from Luke about Martha distracting herself with preparations instead of listening to the Lord. We spend so much time working for the future we have on Earth that some of us forget to work on our future in heaven with Jesus. By meditating on Christ, we quite simply find out what He really wants us to do instead of guessing and following our own complicated notions.

To truly meditate though, we must listen AND act, something I never even thought about before. Sure we can listen, but if we don't act, it's almost as if we weren't paying attention when God was telling us His mission plan!

In closing, I will end with a verse that has really meant a lot to me on the subject of listening to God:

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still." -Exodus 14:14, ESV

When we're still, we can hear what He has to say, and what could be more important that that?

P.S. On a less serious note, is anyone else hearing Steve Mann's voice in their head while they read the devotionals? Lol.