Hello friends,
Welcome to the 15th episode of Christian Meditation with me,
Anita Mathias.
Let's begin to detach from our busy lives and to enter God's space,
God's timeless time for a few sacred moments.
Let's embark on the restorative activity of resting in the love of God.
Exhale to the count of five,
Then inhale to the count of five.
Again,
The poetic book of Genesis says God made man from dust,
From stardust we now know,
And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
Breathing keeps us alive,
And breathing deeply helps us come more fully alive,
Closer to our best selves,
Spiritually,
Mentally,
Emotionally and physically.
Our breath is a tool for slowing down and calming down,
Which God placed within our bodies,
And our calmed,
Calm mind is better at thinking,
Better at hearing God.
We can learn to change our mental state,
Our neurology,
The complex interplay of cortisol,
Adrenaline,
Serotonin and dopamine within our brains and bodies by using the tool of deep breathing.
By meditation,
It is a skill which takes time to learn and is so worth learning.
So let's practice breathing.
The lines we listen to from Psalm 139 remind us that we are completely known,
Completely loved,
Completely accepted in God's presence.
Nothing to achieve,
Nothing to prove.
We don't need to be clever or successful,
Beautiful,
Rich or well-connected.
God loves us because he made us,
And we are his.
We can be completely honest as we come to God in prayer,
Since he knows all the darkness,
The twists and wrinkles in us,
And loves us just the same.
So slowly inhale and exhale as you listen to these ancient,
Beautiful words of Psalm 139.
Lord,
You have searched me and you know me.
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue,
You,
O Lord,
Know it completely.
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens,
You are there.
If I make my bed in the depths,
You are there.
For you created my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
My frame was not hidden from you.
When I was made in the secret place,
When I was woven together in the depths of the womb,
Your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book.
Before one of them came to be.
Search me,
O God,
And know my heart.
Try me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew,
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.
When a man found it,
He hid it again.
And then,
In his joy,
Went and sold all he had and bought that field.
As he suggests that making him the king of all our minutes and activities is treasure worth trading everything for.
It's like being in constant radio contact with Jesus.
Placing yourself in the torrent of his love and wisdom and guidance and acting from the power of his spirit.
It's promised deep peace even amid direness because we know God's power and goodness.
The kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit.
Teaching us all things.
Guiding our work and financial affairs.
Guidance that's brilliant,
Time-saving and a fringe benefit.
Often economically beneficial.
Trading everything to follow Jesus who said he'd live in us as the vine floods his branches.
Well,
Like literally selling everything we own.
Take time.
It happens inch by inch.
Until the spirit and Jesus and his power and glory gradually invade every square inch of our lives.
And progressively everything will shift.
The way we work,
Our family relationships,
Friendships,
What we read and watch,
The time we spend on exercise,
Diets and food preparation,
On maintaining our homes and gardens,
On prayer and scripture reading,
On church activities and volunteering,
On social media and the news.
Some of us will spend less time on these things.
Others will spend more.
For we are each created with a unique shape and purpose and calling.
And what am I trading to live more in Jesus' kingdom?
Well,
Rick Warren of The Purpose Driven Life suggests that those who want to change anything should begin by changing their bodies.
So I'm walking and running,
While praying and listening to scripture,
Gradually increasing mileage so I don't regain the 82 pounds I had lost.
And I'm prioritising,
Decluttering and bringing order and beauty to my home and garden in the course of getting my goal steps and burning my goal calories.
It's costly to follow Jesus,
For sure.
But far,
Far costlier to decide not to and instead chase what Tim Keller calls counterfeit gods.
Money,
The seduction of success,
The power and the glory.
To climb a cruel ladder which has no end and never satisfies for long.
Bill Bright,
Founder of Crew,
Formerly Campus Crusade for Christ,
Describes his surrender to Christ as abandoning his own puny little plans and embracing God's magnificent plans.
Once done,
He said the future seemed brighter than ever.
As we invite Jesus into each square inch of our lives,
He promises that the things the unbelieving world runs after will also be added to us.
May it be so.
Amen.
