Why Isn’t Meditate On Christ More Devotional?

First, I’m not saying devotional material is bad.

But Meditate On Christ isn’t some attempt to compete with the devotional material out there already.

There’s plenty of great devotions to follow online and in print these days… there was no need for me to do my own.

In my life, when I really needed something more – something more than more ideas, more thoughts, more concepts…

That’s when I discovered meditation

“Less ideas, less thoughts, less concepts.”

Here’s what that means…

When I was a teenager, my friends and I would talk about the girls in our classes. Who we thought was pretty, who we wanted to date, etc. We talked about how we might ask them on a date, call them, what we might say. We talked over and over about them.

But we never did anything about it! (Well, one of my friends did get a girlfriend for a while, but he’s the exception that proves my point).

All talk – no relationships

Sometimes (and you’ll have to be the judge of this, but it was certainly true for me) devotions can be just more talk about a relationship with God and not the real relationship.

Or worse, devotions can end up being a checkbox to tick, another task to be done so that I feel like I’m a good Christian.

BUT: When times got tough for me, all that learning and knowledge *was* really important to keep me on track. I just needed more than that.

I’m here to encourage you to work up the courage to ask God on a date!

Set a time, sit down, be still. Hang out with Him. It’s an incredible thing, that He’s so close, yet so ignored. We must spend the time to get to know Him.

In my life, it (usually) goes in this order:

Read Bible —> Write/Journal —> Meditate

The reason is, I want to hear what God is saying to me today. Scripture is God breathed, and useful for course corrections and guidance.

Start there.

Then, engage with it. By writing a little while I can get my thoughts out, my concerns and worries, and I can dump what I’m dealing with on the page. (It’s very powerful, and I need to write more about it some day)

But then, I come to the quiet time.

This is when I really meet with God. When all my inner turmoil and thinking slows down, and I can really turn my attention to the Almighty.

Peace is available.

Waiting on the Lord, I renew my strength

It’s this added 10 or 20 minutes that sets what came before it in concrete… really brings it home.

I have found that when I shortcut the process, I don’t get quite as much out of it. And I don’t truly surrender myself.

God is here. Right now. More knowledge isn’t going to connect you to him. But surrendering will. This is an act of the will, an act of faith, and an act of courage.

Warning: To just sit, without an agenda or list of requests, and to not do anything is tough. It’s the narrow way.