Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Joshua 1:8

We think of meditation as inward, contemplative and personal. Indeed, in practice, the study of the Scriptures and prayer are so by nature; they require the attunement of our thoughts and will to the will of God. But the result of that inward reflection is the outward change that takes place. We become more aware of God’s will and more careful to follow it.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

James 1:22-24

Meditation can’t stop when we lift our head from prayer or reading. It must continue as we reflect on our thoughts and actions throughout the day.

Ethan Kirl