I hope you have enjoyed this series on Christian mindfulness. This is my last installment on the series

Part 1: The  Christian Practice of Mindfulness

Part 2: The attraction

Part 3: The difference in narratives

For many reasons, meditation as a regular Christian practice has been lost in American culture and needs to be re-cultivated. We have abandoned our spiritual disciplines, leaving us weak, ignorant, distracted and ineffective in our Christian walks. As a result, we display to the world a powerless form of Christianity full of stressed and distracted followers who do not access the power of the relationship with the Christ who indwells. Instead, we act on our own power which is ineffective in transforming lives and healing hurts.

In other words, we are the problem, not Christianity. Is it any wonder people turn to other religions for answers? When Christians don’t live out their Christianity, a void is left for others to fill.

Furthermore, we argue about meditation in Christian circles. Is it biblical? Yes (Joshua 1:8). Has it been misunderstood and misused in Christian circles? Yes. Is it essential in the lives of Christians? Yes. The Bible is clear on the need to mediate and explains how it is to be done. Let’s stop arguing and start doing it.

We don’t need a bell to awaken us to the frequency of God. His Spirit is already in us and His presence and power is ready to change lives and bring needed peace and contentment to those who seek truth. We don’t need a mantra to deliver our mind from illusions and focus our attention. The One who spoke the world into existence and breathed life to our physical bodies, lives in us. Our job is to awaken to this reality and not retreat from the spiritual battle, to boldly present the truth, live out the realities of that truth and offer a path of hope to a desperately hurting world. And wouldn’t it be powerful if we, and not just the Buddhists, were known for our love as Jesus so desired. Instead, we are known for what we oppose.

Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. With our eyes firmly fixed on Christ, we can agree with this quote from Isaac of Stella

He Himself is my contemplation. He is my delight. Him for His own sake I seek above me. From Him Himself I feed within me. He is the field in which I labor. He is my cause He is my effect. He is my beginning. He is my end, without end. He is for eternity. —Issac of Stella