Introduction

There once was a worrier named John who battled continual negative thoughts. He had the dreaded what if recording playing over and over in his mind.

His friend Sam always told him, “John, you shouldn’t worry so much—it’s bad for you. Worry doesn’t do you a bit of good. You’ve got to find a way to quit worrying so much.”

But every time Sam saw his anxious friend, John had the same furrowed brow and gnawing fears.

Then one day Sam met John for coffee and was shocked to see him completely carefree.

Sam exclaimed, “John, you look like a different person! You seem relaxed, like you don’t have a worry in the world. What happened?”

John responded, “I found a consultant that I could pay to worry for me.”

Sam was intrigued. “Wow, how much does that cost?”

John said, “$500 a day.”

Sam replied, “Goodness, that’s a ton of money. How in the world are you going to pay for that?”

John smiled and said, “I don’t know. That’s for him to worry about!”

It might seem an unusual way to introduce the classic spiritual discipline of meditation, but meditation is a whole lot like worry.

If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate.

Rick Warren said, “When you think about a problem over and over in your mind, that’s called worry. When you think about God’s Word over and over in your mind, that’s meditation. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate.”¹

There is no way to overstate the power and importance of developing a grace-centered, Scripture-laden thought life. When Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer was asked why he meditated, he replied, “Because I am a Christian.”

Amid what many sociologists call an anxiety epidemic, a surge of interest in meditation has emerged, some of which is quite far from the biblical picture of meditation. The word can conjure images of Eastern religions or unbiblical mantras, but true meditation is a deeply Christian practice. It is an essential gateway of grace.

What Is the Purpose of Meditation?

It is much easier to focus the brain on a positive thought than it is to remove a negative thought.

All of life works by this principle.

When my middle brother was taking driver’s education in high school, he was riding in the back seat with a student driving the car and an instructor in the front passenger seat.

“See that large rock on the side of the road ahead?” the instructor calmly said to the novice driver. “Don’t hit that rock.”

The girl promptly swerved directly into the rock.

Whether driving a car, preparing for a big interview, or lying awake at night, we are much better off focusing on positive, godly thoughts—to focus on the road ahead rather than the obstacles we fear running into.

Meditation is the practice that trains our minds and hearts to dwell upon the positive, godly, noble, beautiful, and hopeful gifts of God.

This sort of thinking leads to the experience of the presence and peace of God. Note the connection Paul makes:

Philippians 4:8–9 (NIV) — “…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.… And the God of peace will be with you.”

Eastern forms of meditation emphasize the emptying of the mind, but Christian meditation is about filling. It is the filling of the soul with delight, marvel, and goodness through ruminating on God’s timeless Word and God’s good gifts in creation.

“Ruminate” comes from the image of a cow chewing cud. Meditation is like that: finding a beautiful thought and chewing on it, turning it over and over before digesting it.

Meditation is a gateway of grace because it opens our souls to the very love God wants to give.

In Christian meditation, we do not empty ourselves in order to merge with nothingness, become one with nature, or achieve nirvana. Instead, we actively focus on the assurances and promises of God.

Though science has shown real benefits to deep breathing and right posture, Christian meditation is much more than a physiological strategy—it is deep connection with God.

The Power of Meditation

If anyone had justification for becoming a worrier or a negative thinker, it was the Apostle Paul. Who has endured all the adversities he faced? He listed his hardships in his second letter to the Corinthians: imprisonments, beatings, lashings, shipwrecks, hunger, cold, and persecution.

Yet it is this man of great suffering who pleaded with us to think on all that is true, noble, right, and pure.

Paul knew by experience and by revelation how powerful our thoughts are. The mind is the place of ongoing change:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2, ESV)

Every thought produces chemical reactions in the brain—electrical signals that trigger the release of neurotransmitters. Thoughts affect brain chemistry, and brain chemistry affects thoughts.

Dr. Donald Hebb famously said:

“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

Another way to put it: your brain gets better at whatever it does regularly.

If you worry often, your brain becomes wired to worry.

But if you think on what is true, noble, right, and pure, your brain becomes adept at seeing beauty and discovering goodness.

Grateful people become more grateful. Bitter people become more bitter.

“Think about such things.… And the God of peace will be with you.”

Meditation is a gateway to intimacy with Christ.

The Practice of Meditation

Start with Confession

Developing a life of meditation begins with confessing—agreeing with God—that it is not His plan for you to live with negative thought patterns. It is important to be honest about all the broken records of negativity that tend to play over and over in your mind.

God purchased forgiveness for you that is so full and complete that it entitles you to come boldly to the throne of grace. It means you can come to God with your negative thoughts—even in the midst of your worst thoughts—and be real with your Father and ask for His help.

Take Inventory of What You Think About

Learning to meditate in the right way also requires becoming aware of the preoccupations of our minds. Take an honest inventory:

Do you watch negative news for hours a day?

Do you pore over negative social media?

Do you study all the possible diseases that could afflict you someday?

Do you enjoy gossip—the retelling of the worst about others?

Do you replay your regrets over and over?

Do you think continually about your spouse’s flaws or your child’s bad behavior?

Perhaps the most tender and difficult matter of unhealthy meditation is the mind reliving trauma. There is no instant fix for a brain imprinted by past trauma, but it is very important to acknowledge the trauma and bring the traumatized mind to the Lord, to wise counsel, and to the opportunity for healing.

Begin with the Word of God

To decide to think on what is true, noble, and right is an invitation to think on the Word of God—the truest, purest, most beautiful thought ever penned.

The psalmist declared:

“My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.” (Psalm 119:148, ESV)

To meditate on the Word of God is to contemplate the promises of God and the assurances of grace.

When God sent Joshua into the Promised Land, He exhorted him:

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night…” (Joshua 1:8, ESV)

To meditate on Scripture is to do more than read it or even study it—it is to turn the truth over and over in your mind.

Eugene Peterson had a dog in Montana that sometimes came home with the bone of a coyote and gnawed on it, turning it over and around, licking it, and sometimes growling softly, almost like a cat purring. Peterson noticed that a good bone might last the dog a week.

How profound and beautiful it was when Peterson noticed a text in Isaiah:

“As a lion… growls over his prey…” (Isaiah 31:4)

The Hebrew word used for growl is hagah, often translated meditate, as in Psalm 1:

“His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

To meditate on the Word of God is to turn it over and over—tasting, digesting, savoring, slowly and fully.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said:

“Just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart… That is meditation.”4

Look for Wonder

Meditation is a practice of filling your heart with all that is true and beautiful, remembering that every good gift is a gift from God.

We had our three-year-old granddaughter for the weekend—her first real sleepover. Two nights and three days of giggling, sprinkler jumping, painting, crafting, and playing with new toys.

Fresh from my role as chief romper and playmate, I was physically tired but wonderfully refreshed. I was revitalized by all the laughing.

And I was made new by all the wonder.

At Mia’s request, we spent two days looking for a live ladybug.

“They eat aphids,” she informed me.

A three-year-old is closer to the ground and better at finding ladybugs. And when, finally, one was found, there was great rejoicing all around.

She also noticed every spider web and saw small, interesting rocks. And when we encountered deer in the woods near our house, I experienced the wildlife through her eyes of wonder.

It’s hard to worry about taxes and healthcare and work problems when you are mesmerized by a ladybug.

Invite Others into Shared Meditation

We are powerfully shaped by those around us.

It is no coincidence that the hymns and poems of Israel begin with a description of the fruitful life of the one who “meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

As if serving as a preface to all the other 149 psalms, the first psalm heralds the power of the contemplative life—the life of praise and wonder.

And the blessedness of the one who meditates on the Word of God begins with a choice to refuse alignment with negative thinkers:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers…” (Psalm 1:1, ESV)

If you want to think on what is true, noble, right, and pure, then associate with others who do.

Find and keep friends who love God’s Word and relish the Good News. Find and keep the kind of spiritual friends who practice daily wonder and who live with ongoing gratitude.

It is the difference between taking a walk with someone who points you to beauty and walking with someone who reminds you of all that is wrong with the world.

This doesn’t mean that meditation is a form of denial.

There is, of course, a place—a necessity—for honest admission of what is broken.

Meditation is not about overlooking real problems—it is about looking at problems in light of higher thoughts.

We do not meditate on God’s Word to escape life’s difficulties. We meditate on God’s Word to become empowered to face life’s challenges.

Conclusion

All the gateways to grace are practices—daily disciplines that open us to experience the goodness of God.

They are not accomplishments, though they may lead to a life of greater fruitfulness.

They are pathways, gates, to experiencing and appropriating what God so wants to give.

What God most wants to give us is Himself.

His very presence.

Meditation opens us to the presence of God.

Unlike Eastern religious notions of meditation as an emptying of the mind and soul, the Christian practice of meditation is about deepest infilling—ultimately the infilling of the Spirit Himself.

Meditation is a gateway of grace that fosters friendship with Jesus.

There was a peasant in the eighteenth century who would sit alone for long hours in the quiet of the church. One day the priest asked the old man what he was doing.

The old peasant replied simply:

“I look at Him, He looks at me, and we are happy.”

May the meditation gateway open your heart wide to the revelation of God’s presence.

Look at Him day in and day out, and discover that when He looks at you, He smiles.

Endnotes

1. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002).
2. Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, rev. ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998), 15.
3. John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become Like Him, Do as He Did (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2024), 111.
4. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), 81.
5. John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become Like Him, Do as He Did (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2024).