Why do you believe?

Why do you believe in Jesus? I was talking with a co-worker the other day and he genuinely wanted to know why I believed in Jesus. He wasn’t antagonistic or arrogant but merely inquisitive and curious. My mind flipped through several arguments such as the historical case for the resurrection, biblical prophecy and other arguments for God’s existence in general and Christianities truth in particular. But when it comes right down to it, my faith doesn’t rest on any of those arguments. They are important and have weight to them, but when believing in Christ my faith isn’t based on them. I wouldn’t die for any of the arguments like I would for Jesus.

I think my co-worker wanted/wants me to prove to him that God is real and that Christ is truly the messiah and the Son of God. God might use these arguments to help my friend realize that Christianity is not irrational but very “reasonable” indeed. However, I don’t believe he will believe in Christ because I present him evidence. Evidence does not spark love, faith does. Faith that Jesus was not insane or a liar but was who He really said He was. I can’t prove that, I just believe He is. Something deep in my bones resounds with the truth of it. My friend thinks that we are good and have some evil in us. If we don’t understand the problem than how could we ever desire the solution? Christ came to save us from our sin that separates us from God; but if we don’t believe in sin than how or why would we ever see Christ as necessary?

There is a section in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia where he describes something fitting to what I’m talking about. Eustace and Jill are looking for a lost prince and set out on a journey to find him in Narnia. Skip forward to near the end of the story and Eustace and Jill find themselves in a dreary underworld land being guarded by underworld people on their way to an underground city. They arrive and eventually find the prince there. But alas the wicked white witch appears and begins to entrance them by a deep spell. She begins to question all of their experiences. She asks if they have really ever seen the sky or any place outside of this underworld city. The magic combined with the witch’s craftiness leads the children and company further down the road of confusion. The witch’s ploy is to make the children believe that all of their memories and beliefs about an outside world and Aslan are merely projections of what they see in the city. The sun is merely a projection of the lamp and Aslan is simply a projection of the cat. It is in this context that Muddlegump (one of the characters) says this:

Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things--- trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a god deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hallow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. . .

It is after this that the witch shows her true face and tries to kill the children because her facade didn’t work. While the children knew deep down in their bones that there was a Sun and that Aslan was real they could not prove it. Muddlegump bellowed out from his heart a statement of unadulterated faith and love. He trusted in Aslan and thereby broke the witches hold. I suppose that is something what it’s like to believe in Christ. The children and muddlegump sat for a very long time and tried to explain the outside world and Aslan to the witch to no avail. God has given us a desire to know him. Creation cries out for a creator and so does my soul. If Christ is not the truth than love is meaningless, humility pointless, evil a victor and we remain hopeless. There is no heaven or new creation, all things will continue to get worse until humanity is wiped from the universe’s record book, and the mystery that only God can bring is lost. The world would indeed be a very dull, dreary and desperate place. I cannot believe in that kind of world.

                Some might say that we just can’t stand the reality. I might be inclined to agree. A world without the love of God is not much of a reality that I would ever want to live in.

Imitate Me. Part 2

We left off with the question of what it means to imitate Jesus. We have seen that imitating Jesus is not encompassed in the particulars or in the principles of his life. Surely it consists of both but neither by itself is sufficient for imitating Jesus. So, are we stuck here? How do we figure out when to follow the particulars of Jesus life and which principles we are supposed to extract and follow? Is there some system that we can learn that sorts each out in categories for certain instances in our lives?


John in his gospel records Jesus telling the disciples the truth of who he is. Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” He also says, “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father”(Jn.14). How could the disciples not be troubled? Jesus had just announced that he was one with the Father, that He in essence was God. He then tells the disciples that He is going away. Put yourself in the disciple’s perspective. They have given up everything to follow this man, they have seen his great miracles, and they truly believe he is going to usher in the kingdom of God. How can they believe in him if he goes? How can they follow him if he’s not there?

Jesus proclaims a divine mystery to the twelve: that even when he leaves them physically he does not truly leave them. He gives another who is called the Helper. This Helper is the Holy Spirit. Jesus goes on to say, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn. 16:13-15). Jesus speaks this to the disciples and we see in Acts 2 that on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit is bestowed upon the church. So, how is to our advantage that we receive the Holy Spirit? We have Jesus not merely with us but dwelling in us. The disciples followed Jesus physically and listened to his teaching but they did not have the very power of Christ’s life dwelling in their mortal bodies. Paul says,” If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you”(Rom.8:11). Do we realize the power that dwells within us?

So, how do we follow Jesus? We listen to the Spirit. We can read scripture and pick out principles and virtues or even memorize certain particulars of Jesus and imitate him in that way; but ultimately this is not what it means to imitate Jesus. Just as the disciples heard the voice of Jesus and obeyed so we are to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and obey. Sometimes this means taking a principle from Jesus life and sometimes we follow him in a specific particular of his life. There are situations in which we cannot find a direct principle or particular to guide us. This should not worry us because we do not follow a principle list but a person who lives within us and has promised that he will not leave or forsake us. But can we hear him? What does it look like to live a life dependent upon the Spirit and His guiding? If living by the Spirit is equivalent to following Jesus than shouldn’t Christians know the Spirit’s voice better than anything?

Imitate Me. Part I

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”, declared Jesus to Simon Peter. Peter knew what this meant; he would give up his profession and literally follow this man around the country side. Whatever Jesus did he would do; whatever Jesus taught Peter would be expected to learn and in his own time teach. It was an incredible demand and cost Peter his family and his income. As the scriptures record: Peter, as well as at least eleven others, obeyed this call and left family and work to follow this man named Jesus.


What happens to us when Jesus calls us to be his disciples? The original twelve knew exactly what it meant to follow Jesus. They would imitate him in every aspect of life as best as they possibly could. They were to imitate Jesus in the particulars of his life. If he was itinerant than they were itinerant, if he went without food and possessions than they were to do the same. How is it that we are supposed to follow the Christ? After 2,000 years and a very different culture we can no longer follow Jesus in the exact particulars of his life. Even if we believed imitating Jesus meant that, we moved to the Middle East, sold everything and became itinerant there are too many things that have changed for us to follow Jesus in every particular of his life. So, are we to believe that when Jesus calls us to be His disciples that we are to strive and follow Jesus in the particulars of his life? It seems obvious by looking at Christians lives that this is not the case. I don’t know a single Christian that has sold everything they own, moved to the Middle East and become an itinerant preacher of the gospel. So, if following Jesus doesn’t mean attempting to follow every particular of his life than what does it mean?

Perhaps it means looking at the principles that Jesus encompassed and attempting to follow those. Jesus loved others sacrificially and so we love others sacrificially. He was selfless and humble and so we are to be selfless and humble. We look at Jesus life and pick out virtues and important principles to follow and those are to be our guide in our Christian life. This is what most Christians seem to believe. So, when Jesus calls us to follow Him he really means to look at the principles and virtues that he lived out and to follow those. We turn Jesus’ life into an example of what virtue looks like. But is this really what the gospels portray? How do we make a principle list out of Jesus life? Jesus lived in such a way that we cannot predict his actions by using a virtue or principles list. We read Paul’s vice and virtue lists back into Jesus’ life to make it simple and easy for us. Take for example the way that Jesus taught. Are we to make a principle out of the way he taught the parables? In Mark’s gospel he states that he teaches the parables so that they won’t get it. You mean Jesus taught so that people would not understand? That’s what he says, “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven”(Mk.4:12).

So, how do we make Jesus’ life one of merely principles and/ or virtues that we are to learn and follow? We don’t and we shouldn’t. There are very important principles and virtues that we can see in Jesus life and that are great examples for us, but we are not to systematize Jesus and assume that everything has a principle or virtue. How would we handle the way he taught parables, or many of his miracles and other actions? Surely following Jesus necessarily means adopting these principles but following Jesus encompasses more. We follow a person not a set of principles or rules.

How do we follow Jesus then? If it’s not in the particulars of his life or in the generalities of the virtues/ principles that he encompassed than what does it mean to follow him and how is it done?

Changing Times: The Effect of Media

Can you imagine living one hundred years ago? You wake up to the sound of the cock crowing or the sun rising and turn over in bed to light your candle so that you can see. You have school today, so you grab your things and get ready for the three mile walk ahead of you. The teachers worry about animals, notes and gum disturbing the class. When you get off from school you help out on the farm or prepare food to be eaten. Flash forward to an average day in 21st century America with alarm clocks, cars, music, phones, and computers, and it seems obvious that much has changed. Getting to school happens in the blink of an eye, teachers have much more to compete with now than simply paper notes, and gum. We are bombarded by media almost every second of every day. Most people watch television more than a couple hours a day. Television is not the only thing being consumed at a rapid rate, but social networking along with texting have grown immensely in our nation. So how have our technological innovations changed the way we live? All of the media and technology we have surrounded ourselves with has drawn us further and further away from any reflective state, so that we are a nation caught up in peripheral pleasure while losing sight of any foundation upon which to stand.

Our consumption of media has hindered our ability to reflect on issues, as we insist that these issues are difficult to handle. In response we settle for the quick fix. When we settle for the quick fix we ingrain a behavioral pattern of laziness. We watch media and become used to sitting in a passive position, allowing others to guide and entertain us. When this lifestyle becomes central we become sluggish and lazy; we become easily satisfied with whatever pleasure requires the least exertion or effort. Rather than seeking true relationships, men will watch pornography to get a quick and easy fix. Instead of writing our own work we instead take someone else’s words and use them. When reading a book would truly serve us the most good we sit down and watch TV. When hungry we choose fast food rather than taking time to prepare a healthy meal. This goes down to the heart of the way we live. Instead of dealing with our own problems and the evil that runs down each of us we point the finger at the problems of the world. We seek simple, easy solutions that give us the maximum pleasure with minimal effort, despite the fact that it is not what is truly good for us.

When we are no longer thoughtful about life and choose laziness, our life becomes less meaningful. Our culture is entirely confused about what meaning is and where it resides. Meaning is wrapped up in purpose. When we think about the meaning of our lives we reflect on what our purpose is, what we are supposed to do, and what our goals are. If we are lazy and unreflective then we don’t see the connection between our purpose and meaning. We view meaning as whatever gives us pleasure or instant happiness. Media has trained us to find meaning in what draws our attention and gives us pleasure or satisfaction the quickest. Meaning collides with hedonism, the sole pursuit of pleasure. If we are reflective we will see that to have a meaningful or purposeful life requires hard work and does not come by being passive or lazy. Sometimes the most important things we do in life are the hardest and require determination and grit to do. We must understand that meaning is not merely found in what brings us pleasure or what can satisfy us the quickest. Meaning is found in realizing what our goal is and living in accordance with that purpose.

When we lack meaning in our lives we seek to find it in the newest thing. When we get lonely or bored we distract ourselves with television, texting or social networking. Since there is no depth in our lives we prefer quantity. Essentially, we want more things rather than depth in one thing. So, we continue to distract ourselves with numerous devices to focus our attention on something new and different in the attempt to abstain from boredom. This also distracts us from reflecting on the lack of depth in our lives. We believe that getting more friends on facebook, seeing the latest action movie, or texting throughout the day will keep us entertained- -allowing us to feel that we have meaningful lives.

Much has changed in the past hundred years. The vast expanse of media has forever changed the landscape of our world. The ability to reflect on life in its fullness is rapidly vanishing as the superficiality of this age is taking over. Our desire for entertainment has taken deep roots in society and has had a major impact on our ability to deliberate on situations. Our search for pleasure and satisfaction (which much of our media tells us is found in the easiest and quickest satisfaction) leads us back into the never-ending cycle. We are consumed with media that distracts us, causing a lack of thoughtfulness about life. This in turn, leads to laziness, lack of meaning in life and the search for new devices or mediums that will grab our attention. Much has changed over the years. We can’t allow superficiality to win the day.

Rules and Regulations or True to myself

I sit in my room pondering all the ways that we have tried to control humanity. We have placed our hope in government and politics to save us and to dish out rules and regulations that will guide human life. It should be apparent to all that this is not the answer and nor can it be the answer to our problem. There is something fundementally astray within us. We all have this desire for justice in life. We have a longing for things to be right, for people to get what they deserve. Even though we have this desire we cannot live up to it. We blame everyone around us for the injustice that we see ignoring the fact that injustice runs straight down the middle of each of us. We know the right things to do and yet fail to do it. We can point out all the evil in the world but what really concerns me is the evil I still see streaking through my own life. What do I do about that? How can i hope to bring justice to this world or put my hope in politics and gov. with their rules if Ican't even see justice worked out in my own life? Perhaps this longing for justice is like an echo that my soul knows was and is to be someday and longs for desperately.
So, how do we go about trying to fix this broken world with all of its injustice when we can't even follow the rules in our own life? Gritting your teeth and mustering up the will power to obey the rules 1.doesn't work and 2.Isn't the kind of life anyone really wants to live. The other reply that has been given in our culture stems from the romantic, existential movements. In rebellion against the rules these people have espoused the solution to our problem is that we don't live authentically. We really just need to discover who we are and live genuinly with our feelings and emotions. These are the two issues that much of society turns on: you must obey the rules or you must live authentically allowing your true inner self to express itself without restraining it. Suprisingly (or not so suprisingly) the church has grappled with this same issue for quit some time. Many discussions or debates you hear in church really have to do with how people view following Jesus rather than the actuall issues. One person sees the rules as fundemental and that utter chaos would abound without them and that we must enforce the rules. The other sees Christ as realesing us from the law to live truely and authentically with our inner self. So, which is it? How do we live in between the tension that these two viewpoints posit? There are many historical events which hold sway over us! Immanuel Kant and his categorical imperative has made great influece on the church viewing Christianity as a set of rules while the Romantic and Existential period has influenced Christianity so much that some think their message was Christ's.
What is the key to this riddle? How do we live life authentically while following the rules? First, we must identify what is it that Jesus was seeking to do while he lived here. What was his purpose for going and teaching at all the different cities and spending so much time with the disciples? Was he merely just biding time before his crucifixion and resurrection? While this sounds outlandish many times our theology and worldview suggest this answer. What is life about after i get "saved"? Many think of Christianity as fire insurance and if i can get everyone else to get this same insurance and obey some rules along the way than i'll be safe. Salvation is an event but also a process! Jesus came to bring in his fathers kingdom. To inagurate the beggining of heavens rule on earth. He seeks to do this through those who follow Jesus. But how? By just believing in his name and waiting to die? NO! We cannot earn salvation in any way, but we are to be co-operators in our sanctification with Christ. We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
                We return to the question of how we are to live authentically while obeying the rules. The Christian answer to this is by follwing a person, namely Jesus Christ. What happens after you have been "saved" is that God changes our heart but also desires us to pursue him by consciously choosing to develope character. Brain science has shown that we actually affect the physical makeup of our brain by the behavior and decisions that we make. When we choose to do a certain behavior or think a certain way over and over again it makes a neuropathway that will make that connection the next time an idea or similar thought comes its way. It can be seen physically in the makeup in the brain! Our brain is a muscle and will develope certain tendencies and habits of thinking. When we follow a person and develope the character that God is working in us to grow we can be genuine to ourselves because as a Christian  our deepest desire is to please God. He changes our hearts so that they cry for him and his peace and kingdom. In turn that character keeps the rules but its focus isn't on the rules but rather on a person and a way of life.
      So, how is it that God develops this character or Christ likeness in us? He has given his Spirit and promised He will never leave us or forsake us. What about us? How do we work out our salvation with fear and trembling? How do we be disciples of Jesus when he lived 2000 years ago in a different culture?
After You Believe: Why Christian Character MattersAfter You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters

Our Hope

     One of the great aspects of following Christ is the hope for a future beyond this life. Is there really more to this life than what is before our eyes? Christianity shouts a resounding "Yes". We all know that we, as Christians, have hope but do we know what our hope is? The more i read and study scripture along with biblical scholars (far beyond my level) i begin to see that the church has entirerly lost sight of what the main thrust of scripture is and thus are confused about what exactly we are hoping for. We see this confusion in many of the songs that we sing. For example, the classic hymn I'll Fly Away. Many adore this song and find in it comfort. But looking at it reveals that this is not what the bible teaches, but is more Gnostic than biblical. It goes,
 Some glad morning when this life is o'er, I'll fly away; To a home on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away (I'll fly away). Chorus I'll fly away, Oh Glory I'll fly away; (in the morning) When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I'll fly away (I'll fly away). 2. When the shadows of this life have gone, I'll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I'll fly away (I'll fly away) Chorus 3. Just a few more weary days and then, I'll fly away; To a land where joy shall never end, I'll fly away (I'll fly away) .(emphasis mine).
        There are other hymns and songs that we sing without even realizing what they are teaching. This leads me to the question that drives this post. What is the hope we are given when we become Christians? I too believed that it was heaven until i started to investigate the scriptures and found that dieing and going to heaven is NOT the hope we are given as followers of Christ. Many of us have been taught this all of our lives but have not stopped to read what the scriptures say and what they teach. Our hope is found in Jesus's Bodily resurection from the dead. It is about life after life after death. When we die now we go to be with God immediately, but that is not where we remain for eternity(just read Rev. 21 and Is 65). There will be a new heaven and a new earth that will be merged and that is where we will dwell and that is the land of joy and peace.
         Now, lets unpack this a bit and see the big picture. In Genesis God created the heavens and the earth and it was good and after creating man He declared it "very good". Adam was made to be a stewart over the earth and to reflect God's image to all of creation. Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and plunged the world into sin. The world was cursed because of Adam's disobedience. What is God's response to Adam's action? God continually seeks to draw back his creation gone astray. This is the whole story of scripture. God is pursuing his people, through Abraham and his descendants, the prophets etc. He seeks to have them be a light to the nations to bring healing to the damaged world. Read through Isaiah 40-66 and you get a clear view (especially in 65) of God's plan for redemption for his people and the world. Finally, God sent His Son to bring final restoration and healing to the world. The Pharisees and other orthodox Jews held that they would recieve new physical bodies ( Evidence of this can be seen in the Maccabean revolt when Jews would shout back to those killing them that God would give them a new body). So, the Jewish hope was not in heaven. They believed in soul sleep! That when you died your soul remained in your body unaware of time until the end of days when God would resurrect everyone from the dead. The good to paradise and new earth and the wicked to punishment.
     From the beggining God's plan has not been to abandon creation, but to renew it and heal it (Rom. 8). God's promise for the final healing and renewal of ALL creation is found in Jesus's Resurrection. It is God's downpayment revealing to us that He intends to do to ALL of creation just as He has done to His Son. THIS IS OUR HOPE. We die and go to heaven as an intermediate state awaiting God's fulfillment of His promise to renew all of creation. It is when this final merger between heaven and earth arrives that we will be given our resurrected bodies and reign with him on earth ( This is the whole point of Revelation 21). It is the climax that all of scripture is anticipating. If our hope is in dieing and going to heaven and residing there in a disembodied state than we have described Gnosticism (the view that creation is bad and our spirit is good and if we are simply released from this material prison than we will be free!) not Christianity. Scripture is very clear that creation and material bodies are not evil but distorted and when we accept Christ our hope is not that we will get rid of creation, but that it will be healed and brought to its full restoration as we see in Christ's resurrected body.
     So, to make this crystal clear, if our hope is rooted in going to heaven when we die than we will not seek to bring Christ's kingdom here to earth,rather we will seek to say a prayer and then escape to heaven! THIS IS NOT WHAT JESUS TAUGHT or HOW HE LIVED. Jesus mission was to bring in God's kingdom, to invade earth with heaven. In the O.T. the temple was the place where heaven invaded earth because God's spirit dwelt there. Who has that same spirit now? We do. We are to be the intersection where heaven begins to invade earth (1 Peter 2). We are to follow Jesus as he brought in the kingdom knowing that it will be completed when he returns again. This is the hope that we have been born to, that God will not abandon His creation but heal it. This means that we are to help bring in that healing and justice as Jesus did. That is what He taught us to pray for," Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!"
    Sorry, this is so long but i'm summarrizing an argument that took N.T. Wright 300 pages to write. The worry about singing hymns which aren't biblical is that we are training and teaching ourselves to sing any old thing just because its there and also right thinking precedes right action.
     Here are some ref. that talk about our hope being in the resurrection from the dead and the new heaven/earth. 1 Peter 1:4-6;Phil. 3:20-21:Phil. 3:10;Romans 8:18-24;Col. 1:18;Eph.1:17-23;1 Cor. 15:12-58(complex passage: understanding original language aids greatly); 2Pet.3:13,3:1-13;1John3:2-4;Rev.21;Is.65 and there are many more.
Give me your thought or questions about this. Thanks.
He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1Peter 1:3b-6. Amen. Praise be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Inward Discipline One:Meditation

"True contemplation is not a psychological trick but a theological grace." Thomas Merton.
What is our culture about? Noise, hurry and rush. We are always on the go. We have to be doing something or we aren't cool. All of the early church fathers knew how to meditate. We need to follow them and be students of contemplative prayer.
So, what is meditation? Foster writes, "listening to God's word, reflecting on God's works, rehearsing God's deeds, ruminating on God's law etc." When we encounter God in this mediation there is stress upon changed behavior as a result of our interaction with him. When we meditate repentence and obedience are what should follow.Simply put, Christian meditation is the ability to hear God's voice and obey his word. We are followers of the living God, do we know his voice? We are followers of the alpha and the omega, do we obey his word? This is what Christian meditation is all about. The more we practice it the clearer God's voice becomes and the more we delight in obeying what he has told us to do. God is among us, just as in the early church he moved and spoke, so He seeks to do as well now.
We are growing into a deeper relationship with God in meditation. We are sinking into a posture of conversation and a way of thinking that is wrapped up in Jesus life and light. It is a "familiar friendship" with the Christ. There should be a mixture of intense intimacy with awestruck reverence. When we have inward fellowship it changes us. "Inward fellowship of this kind transforms the inner personality. We cannot burn the eternal flame of the inner sanctuary and remain the same, for the Divine Fire will consume everything that is impure." Everything that is foreign to this way of living in continual relationship with God is abandoned. Not because of have to, but because of your desire to. When we hear His voice and obey his word we begin to see what following Christ is all about.
"Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to fill the mind." Eastern thinking is about detachment, but Christian meditation goes beyond this unto attachment for a particular person and lifestyle namely that of the Christ. Meditation does not detach us from the world but firmly roots us in our purpose in it. It send us into the world with a greater perspective and balance. We are seeking to think God's thought after him. To delight in his prescence, to desire his truth and his way.
Learning to meditate will not come by reading this but by actually meditating. We need to set aside time for it! Now, what exactly does it look like to meditate? When God's word becomes a word directly to you. "Just as you would not analyze the words of someone you love, but accpet them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart." Rather than thinking and dwelling on the idea of peace we enter into it. How? Through prayer to God and focusing on His peace, how it is flowing down, in and through us like a stream. The heart, the mind, and the spirit are all awakened to his inflowing peace. Take a verse in scripture such as Ps. 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules." Think about it, hoow His scriptures teach you and guide you in how to live and act. How is His word shedding light on your life? How are you keeping your oath? How does it change the way you live your life? This is merely one small part of meditation. Learn to meditate by practing it. " Meditation is not a single act, nor can it be completed as you fnish building a chair. It is a way of life." As with all the other disciplines, the point is not doing the discipline but the freedom that it brings! It is not about meditation, rather we use meditation as a means to draw closer to God and experience greater freedom.
p.s.For a fuller explanation see Foster's book.