Addiction vs. Meditation

 

Addiction is a powerful and malevolent force that corrupts our hearts and minds. It warps the way we think and makes us believe all manner of false and dangerous lies. Addiction is a mental illness, a disease of the mind that distorts the way we think.

If we are to find sobriety and sanity we have to learn to change the way we think. We have to learn to think about what we are thinking about and understand how we think. We have to be vigilant and practice "casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Paul wrote this as well in Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." One of the most effective ways we can renew our minds is through meditation.

There are myriad ways to practice meditation. Often we think of the monk sitting cross-legging and chanting or humming for hours on end. There may be some utility in this type of meditation, but this is not the image of meditation presented in Scripture.

In the last post we talked about prayer. If we think of prayer as breathing out, then meditation is breathing in. We inhale the power and presence of the Lord through meditation, and we exhale prayer and praise to the Lord. This is a regular, daily routine, if not something we do throughout the day. The primary way we inhale the presence of the Lord is through meditating on Scripture. For the Christian, Scripture is the foundation of all our meditation.

There are many steps that we can take in meditation. Usually we begin simply, with reading.  We choose a chapter or a few verses and read them, focusing on the words and letting them sink in.  We read slowly, clearing our mind and allowing Scripture to speak to our hearts. We often find our minds wandering to mundane things, like what's for breakfast, chores that need to be done, or even pulled away to sinful and lustful thoughts. When this happens, we let go of those thoughts and redirect them back to the Scriptures. What helps me is to either vocalize or subvocalize while I read. This slows the process down, but helps me to focus and absorb what I am reading.

To take our practice further we can memorize Scripture.  As we read, we may find a particular verse that inspires us, we write it down, read it over and over again, study it and commit it to memory. Then the verse is locked in and we can recall it any time we want. We can think deeply about what the verse tells us about who God is, who we are, and how it applies to our lives personally. I keep a journal where I work at memorizing new verses and also review old ones, this has been a daily discipline of mine for most of my life and I have been greatly enriched by it.

Alongside Scripture I also meditate on affirmations that are based off of Scripture. A couple I have been focusing on lately are: "Christ is all I want, and all I need, and I am fully satisfied in him" and  "The joy I find in Christ far surpasses any earthly pleasure or relationship." Once again, I will turn these over again and again in my mind and let them absorb into my spirit.

Alongside these methods we may also choose to do a systematic study of a verse or passage. We can read commentaries or other books on a verse or topic, we can dig into the original Greek and do other language studies, and we can study cross-references in a study Bible.

Another daily habit of mine is to journal about a particular verse. I focus on it for a few days, writing about whatever comes to mind, but trying to delve into what the verse tells me about God and how it applies to my life personally.

Listening to recordings of the Bible, sermons and spiritual podcasts can also be a way to meditate.

We can meditate nearly anytime and anywhere. We can meditate while sitting still in a quiet room or lying in bed, drifting off to sleep, allowing verses to play in our minds and lull us to sleep.  We can meditate on Scripture while doing chores, listening to a audiobook Bible.  We can turn our minds to Christ and focus on him while we wait in line. Driving has always been a great time for me to meditate.  What we will find is that a little bit goes a long way. A few minutes of meditation makes a big difference.

The point of all these different methods is to reprogram our minds to turn away from lustful thoughts and turn them to Christ. The more we meditate on Scripture and the truths contained there, the more we will find that our faith is growing. We are coming to believe that we are truly born-again children of God and he has delivered us and given us victory over all sin and addiction. We will come to believe that through Christ addiction has no power over us and we can walk in deliverance and victory.

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