Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards by Kyle C. Strobel

Author:Kyle C. Strobel [Strobel, Kyle C.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780830884391
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2013-04-07T04:00:00+00:00

6

Meditation and Contemplation

True religion disposes persons to be much alone, in solitary places, for holy meditation and prayer.

JONATHAN EDWARDS, RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS

One thing I have asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

PSALM 27:4

IF YOU COULD ASK A PASTOR IN Edwards’s day if a Christian should be involved in meditation and contemplation, “Of course!” would be the obvious response. The idea that a Christian would not practice meditation or contemplation would have been nothing short of baffling. Today is different. Unfortunately, for many, the terms meditation and contemplation have become tied up with New Age or Eastern mysticism. The words themselves seem tainted by unchristian ideologies. We have already seen this same tendency with words like spirituality and spiritual formation. Instead of being faithful to practice these in a distinctively Christian and evangelical manner, we capitulate to outside forces and flail about for new terms to use. In turn, division arises in the church as some look down on others who employ this terminology, all while others invoke them in an elitist manner. This endless circle of foolishness has caught many in its trap (2 Tim 2:14). This is exactly the kind of thing Edwards expected to happen when people devote themselves more deeply to God—Satan comes in and tries to deceive, confuse and muddle the Christian life by creating false teachings that mimic Christian ones.

The appropriate response to these scenarios is to dig deeply into Christian teaching on the need and use of proper meditation and contemplation. This chapter does just that, looking at Edwards’s life and ideals as an example. I situate this chapter here because meditation and contemplation are foundational postures for the means of grace I address in the next chapter. Meditation and contemplation act as the mortar in the foundation of Scripture and prayer. Thomas Manton, a theologian Edwards read, claimed, “Meditation is a middle sort of duty between the word and prayer, and hath respect to both. The word feedeth meditation, and meditation feedeth prayer; . . . These duties must always go hand in hand; meditation must follow hearing and precede prayer.”[1] We must do more than read the Word; we must digest it, and that digestion fuels prayer. Along with self-examination, meditation and contemplation are foundational because they should saturate the Christian life as a whole. These practices are forms of prayer and hearing Scripture that govern our Christian existence built on Christ.

The Nature of Meditation

While the broader scope of meditation is a bit more difficult to understand, at its core, it is exactly what we think it is—intently focusing our mind on a spiritual issue. While this definition is correct, it is not very helpful (practically speaking). In the generations leading up to Edwards it was assumed that meditation was “a steadfast bending of the mind to some spiritual matter, discoursing of it with our selves, till we bring the same to some profitable issue.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.