Gear for the Journey: Meditation + Study

"This is my rifle.  There are many like it, but this one is mine.  My rifle is my best friend.  It is my life.  I must master it as I master my life.  My rifle without me is useless.  Without my rifle, I am useless..."

Those are the first sentences of the Rifleman's Creed, also known as the U.S. Marine Corps Creed.  My brother-in-law, Bryan, knows those words and the ones that follow just like every other Marine.  Later this week, Bryan will deploy to Afghanistan for yet another tour of duty.  He's been to Iraq three times since 2003 and was planning to go back before the emphasis swung from one country to another.

Bryan's been well-trained.  He's spent weeks in the field running simulations.  He's spent hours on the range, honing his rifle skills.  He's checked and prepared his gear.  He's as ready as he's going to be.

Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen all understand the importance of training and gear.  They prepare for all possible eventualities and train themselves to improvise in the midst of new situations.

What if Christians prepared this way?  What if we took the USMC Creed as our own and changed the word "rifle" to "Bible."  This is my Bible, there are many like it, but this one it mine...

Unfortunately, many Christians couldn't tell you the last time they picked up their Bible, other than to carry it to church as a sort of status symbol.  Many only open it when a pastor or speaker tells them what specifically to read.  Some use theirs as a good luck charm.  I laugh when I see a car on the interstate that has a Bible on the rear dash.  You just know that if you were to move it, a permanent rectangle would be revealed that had been preserved from the bleaching of the sun.  Those Bibles are there to "prevent" the driver from getting into an accident and perhaps deter a law officer from writing a speeding ticket.

The living word of God contained in Scripture is one of God's greatest gifts to us.  It tells us centuries of stories about God and his people, reveals God's character to us, and instructs us in living the abundant life Jesus came to give.  "My Bible without me is useless.  Without my Bible, I am useless..."

We have to learn to use our Bibles like a Marine uses his or her rifle.  That brings us to the first two disciplines I want to share with you:  meditation and study.

Meditation is the rumination, or reflection, on God's word, God's works, and God's world.  Our meditation isn't like that of Hinduism or Buddhism where the goal is to empty the mind.  Christian meditation is an exercise in filling the mind.  We meditate on scripture and soak up its apparent meanings and it's implications for our lives.  We meditate by centering down - pausing to let go of the things that have us stressed out and to recieve peace and insight from God.  We meditate by observing nature, not to find God in the trees or animals (he's not in them), but to see how God created things to be.  When we do this, we refocus our hearts and minds on God's intentions.  Lastly, we meditate on current events by searching for spiritual significance in the news or the local happenings.  When we take the time to apply God to the six o'clock news, we find sometimes that we've become Pharoah or Caesar and need to repent or that there is someone out there that we can be the Good Samaritan for.

Study is the second use we have for God's word.  Meditation is for soaking up God - study is for learning and understanding God's word.  Study is when we pull out the big Bible with the footnotes and the commentaries that explain what we've just read.  It's the regular, intentional practice of reading God's word for comprehension and reflection.  It's also what provides the concrete framework within which we appropriately meditate.  It sets up the boundaries for who God is and gives us a basis for reflecting on God's word, works, and world.

Study and meditation are contemplative practices that change the heart and the mind of a person.  With Christ, we no longer need a priest or a go-between to encounter God for us - we all have equal access to God.  That's threatening to some of us, simply because if we don't have a first-hand relationship with Christ then we don't have to work at our faith or change our ways.  Someone else does it for us. 

When we study and meditate on God's word, works, and world, we find that the other disciplines of prayer, fasting, service, and so on have deeper meaning and significance for our own lives.